Fish in throat cancer scare

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 Fish 2008 - A Happy Hogmanay

Dear Fishheads, Freaks, fans and the Company,

It seems apt that on the closing day of 2008 I received the news that I had been hoping for in a phone call from my ENT doctor.

The biopsy samples taken from my vocal chords have come back negative
on any malignant or pre-malignant growth. It appears that the source of
all my problems has been a cyst which has been present for quite some
time and was surgically removed during the recent examination.

I have been given a clean bill of health and told to start vocal exercises in order to stretch the repairing tissue.

I can't explain how relieved I am.

My voice has dynamically changed since the growth was removed and was
noticed on the phone by my doctor and commented on by Mo when she
visited the studio yesterday.

Even the muscle movement involved in swallowing has eased and for the
first time in a couple of years I don't feel as if I have a golf ball
in my throat.

I have to admit that certain newspaper reports got me down when after
gleaning all their quotes from my blog they then came up with the
assumption that I was finished as a singer.

It appears they have most definitely got it wrong and one of my first
calls was to Yatta to tell him to go ahead and book festivals for the
Summer. :-)

The other plans remain the same and I will be actively pursuing a
revitalisation of my acting career and working on my novel as of the
beginning of next year 2009.

I've already been approached to present and co-produce a series of
programmes on '60s and '70s Scottish rock music by an independent film
company; something that I find exciting and which will take me into an
area I have wanted to investigate for quite some time.

It's most definitively going to be a busy year.

With the promise of festivals in the Summer there will obviously be a
couple of warm up dates as I will have to put together a new set with
hopefully my existing band line up. With this in mind I am going to
look at the possibility of a convention in Haddington sometime next
summer.

Yatta and I will need to put our heads together to work out the
feasibility of it all as I don't want to commit to any touring outside
of festivals and staggered dates are difficult to maintain a settled
band line up as some musicians will have other commitments that I have
to respect and adjust to.

I am confident I can make it happen and at least hit some stages in the middle of 2009.

I just want to wholeheartedly thank all of you who sent me emails and posted letters of support on the forum.

It meant a lot to me as it was a difficult head space to be in for
quite some time.
I sincerely appreciated your best wishes and genuine concern and it
continued to remind me what a special group of people I have out there
and who are brought together by the music.

All I can do is wish you all a very happy and brilliant new year when
it comes in and I will raise a glass to you all when the bells call in
2009.

You are most definitely the Company I choose :-)

Thanks for being out there for me!

Slainth Mhath

lots of love

Fish xxx