It's Saturday 10.33 pm here in Sydney. I went to visit Sandra at the hospital today - a 40 degr smotheringly hot day out where she is.

After a woozy day yesterday, Sandra was sitting up in bed looking like a queen in white (Sandra, I didn't realise your hair is sooo long!) and was remarkably calm and gracious, considering she has just had quite a large chunk removed from her tum - not just the cancerous intruder but quite a bit of flesh on either side.

Sandra had her knitting, some books and the remains of lunch, not all of it eaten. So we sat and chatted about this and that, until the lights were dimmed and a very nice nurse explained to me that it was time to go.

Sandra has been very pleased to read all the Mud-messages - just what she needed to keep her going during a time of sudden and unexpected illness.

Rowan, good luck with your op too - I'll be there to compare scars at the National too, and look forward to it.


freda