Blog 358 — Honouring Our Wedding Vows The choice I was given on the operating table, and why I refused it Written 5 September 2026 On 20 November 2018, somewhere between the anaesthetic and the Intensive Care Unit, I was offered an end to all my pain. I said no. This is why. * * * In the previous blog I wrote about the marriage vows that no one ever heard Margaret and me make. Soon after those vows, life became much harder. Margaret did not have cancer in those years, but terrible events swirled around us every day. Those vows are the reason we both stayed alive. They are the reason Margaret was still alive when I had my open-heart surgery in November 2018. I have always called that surgery the Chain Saw Operation. To reach the heart, the surgeons cut through the breastbone and open the chest. The name is not affectionate. It is accurate. I was admitted on Monday 19 November 2018. They operated the next day. * * ...
