Nunc dimittor? Well, not just yet...
My entry for August 4 was headed Nunc dimittis, which I told the poster of an anonymous comment was Latin for "Now I've seen everything". In fact, it means, "Now you dismiss," or "Now you let go," and is the Latin name for the prayer of Simeon in Luke 2.29-32, taken from its first two words: Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace... "Now, O Lord, you let your servant depart in peace, in accordance with your word."
On Friday morning I learned that I have prostate cancer. This is less sombre news than the previous paragraph might suggest, but there was an irony here that seemed to me too good to pass up. If I were to do nothing about it, I could still expect to live another ten or twelve years. As it is, I have to make a choice soon between surgery and radiotherapy, either of which could have serious quality-of-life consequences.
The rest of the day was a strange mix of sombre and mellow. Walking down George Street, saying to myself, "I've got cancer! I've got cancer!" And looking round and thinking what a wonderful place the world was, and how beautiful all the people on the street were.
I rang my parents that night, and they are all fairly relaxed about it. Dad reminded me that he had had stomach cancer, and that it had been completely removed; he told me that prostate cancer is fashionable among his bowling mates. Mum said, "Prostate cancer? That's an old man's disease!" I reminded her that I had had a heart attack two years ago. She said, "Yeah, well, you don't have to do them all, boy!" Althea, my birth mother, wasn't too fazed either. She has had cancer recently, and opted not to go for chemotherapy.
One of my main worries now is whether I'm going to be recovered enough from whatever procedure I choose to front up as a performing guest at the Tui Folk Festival in the Nelson area at New Year. And how I can work prostate cancer into a humorous introduction to a song...