Heritage Of The Xandim

WITH GRATITUDE

During the last few years of illness and a nightmare of pain, it sometimes seemed impossible that I would ever make it through. The fact that I finally did is due in no small part to a number of very special people, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all.

First and foremost, my everlasting thanks go to Professor Ciaran Bolger, Neurosurgeon, who performed delicate, intricate and risky spinal surgery with inspiring confidence and skill.

Thank you, Dr Raymond Victory, Consultant in Pain Management, whose very name made me feel better, and whose nerve blocks helped keep me going.

Thanks to Dr Ian Bothwell, my GP, whose kindness, help and understanding got me through a horrible time, not to mention his wife Edel, receptionist, and Practice Nurse June Darcy, who were so supportive.

Thank you, Patricia Swords, Reiki and Amatsu Practitioner, whose hands, and whose friendship, had a positively magical way of easing the pain.

Many thanks to Mary Varilly for being such a kind and wonderful friend, and helping me so much in every way she could; and to her daughter Claire, who has inherited her mother’s compassion.

Thanks to my neighbour Linda Moore, who was always just a phone call away.

Thank you, John Meaney, for the Tapping.

Thanks to my sister, Lin Stockley, for flying over from Edinburgh and back in a day to feed my cats while Eric had to be away.

Thanks to Paddy Sheridan and Ken Carrington, for being, as always, charming, delightful and kind friends who were on hand to provide good company and some lovely evenings out.

Many thanks to my Dad, Jim Armstrong, for all the hours of worrying he put in on my behalf, and to my mother, Margaret, who came over from England on several occasions to take care of a post-operative daughter who was helpless in a full-body brace while her husband was working at the other end of the country.

I can’t leave out my cats Merlin and Sunshine in the thanks. They somehow knew that all was not well, and one or the other, if not both, stayed at my side at all times.

I would like to thank my agent, John Parker, who kept the lines of communication open even when I couldn’t face talking to anyone, and who worked so hard to make sure I had a career to come back to.

A multitude of thanks go to Simon Spanton of Orion Books, with whom I had recently signed when all the trouble started. I’m tremendously thankful for his patience and understanding in being willing to wait so long. Thanks also to Jo Fletcher of Orion, whose own experiences gave her such an insight into my difficulties.

Thanks to John Jarrold, for his wonderful editorial insights into the manuscript of this book. As always, John, it’s a tremendous pleasure to work with you.

Most of all, I would like to thank my husband Eric, who has stuck with me through thick and thin, and patiently nursed a wife who for weeks after her surgery couldn’t even make a cup of tea or take a shower without assistance. I love you so much. You are the best thing in my life.

And finally, to all the readers who have waited through this lengthy and mysterious absence: thank you. You’re what it’s all about.