Mortality

2016 is panning out to be the worst year for celebrity deaths.

It seems to me that hardly a week goes by without some beloved celebrity death being announced on the news. A shocking number are "premature". Although from where I'm standing, dying in my early 60s seems a good deal to me. For those who don't know I am 52.

As you can imagine every time this happens, especially if the death is caused by cancer, my own mortality plays on my mind.

None of us know when we are going to die. I don't, although unlike most people, I do have a fairly good idea of what I am going to die of, unless of course the 114 bus decides to play a part in my downfall.

Many people have asked me for how long I have to do chemo. I tell them "until I die". The reaction to this varies from, "oh don't say that!", as if not saying it will somehow stop my death, to "I'm sure you'll get better.", I won't, I have incurable cancer, there is no "getting better".

I hasten to add I could be doing this for a very long time. Advances in treatment of secondary breast cancer, whilst not as good as they could be, are much improved on what they were even 5 years ago. I trust that my treatment will continue to work and that, although my current "normal life" can be a bit crappy, it certainly beats the alternative.

For the record, I don't live each day as if it's my last. I'm doing pretty much what I did before, just a bit slower. I have no bucket list. If I had wanted to hurl myself out of a perfectly serviceable aeroplane I'd have probably done it by now. The same goes for visiting far flung destinations.

So my bottom line is, death is inevitable. Some of us will put off our final day for decades, some of us won't.