Pink Lily

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.



From King John Act IV, Scene II by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)




We found Dad in quite good spirits in hospital today. He told us that the lung specialist surgeon at the Royal Brompton Hospital has accepted him for the surgical procedure to remove all the infected matter from his lung lining, and possibly repair the small tear to his lung to stop air leaking into the lining. No fine details on the exact plan of action or a date as yet, but Dad says the Colchester doctors told him it should be in the next few days. Mum and I are naturally very apprehensive about him having surgery at the age of 90, but we know the team have been constantly weighing up the risks versus the benefits. It is a testament to Dad's incredible resilience to everything that he has already been through in the past weeks that they feel he is able to undergo this procedure. I think both he and Mum are simply amazing.