Letter from Byron Bartlett

All (family, extended family, former colleagues, anybody else I may have met or who has asked after me in the past 21/2 months)

First apologies for sending this generic mail out to all and sundry - some 1800+ individuals/organisations - who have either sent e-mails (to various addresses not always ours), get well cards, telephone calls/voicemails to both my and Suzanne's mobiles and of course those that visited me in the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, in Kings College Hospital, London and finally those, who since I came home on Friday have called into the house. We are both very thankful for the thoughts and prayers of you all .

For those who receive this and did not know that I was ill be grateful that I never `popped me clogs` as the funeral would have been conducted in Welsh !

Additionally, I would have opted to be buried standing up in Folkestone Military Cemetery as you get a fantastic view over the Channel !

For those not in the loop of various e-mails, newsletters, TV/Radio broadcasts and the more disturbing rumours of internet medico blogs and a My Space poll, I was initially taken in with two blood infections, a urinary infection and finally catching a form of the dreaded hospital bug !

Fortunately, my age(not over 65), relative fitness (you should have been feeling what I was feeling - and at both ends !) and the fact that I had no gaping surgical wound, apart from cold sores from the numerous tubes up my nostrils - caught, by the way, whilst in a private room on the Isolation Ward! - they managed to kill it off.

However, they eventually discovered, following every known non evasive scan (Ultrasound, CT, MRI etc etc) of the human body, that my liver had three abscesses - a condition that is rarely seen in the UK !

For those amongst you that are readily bored scroll down on the following page http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic1316.htm Yes, I was getting bored until the end of the first and second paragraph which opened my eyes a bit !!!!!! Read the article in full for what to look out for if you wish to go on the Bartlett Diet !

Notwithstanding the other infections, the specialist Liver consultants at Kings College requested that I be transferred to them for `special observations` - their words not mine. Over the three weeks that I spent there I realised that `special observations` meant experiments with new drugs and the possible end game of having to be `sliced and diced` by the worlds top surgeon who by was as mad as a hatter but assured me quote: " no matter if we have to cutaway a large proportion of your liver it will grow back - in time !"

Anyway, the proscribed (known as Phase 1) intravenous drug regime (you could buy a decent BMW with all the extras for the price) lasted until I returned to the William Harvey last week and placed on Phase 2 - oral medication - which is slightly stronger, has a slower release but again could put a second BMW on my drive. The slow release means that I do not go all weird for at least an hour after taking them ! Some of you may have already experienced this during telephone or face to face meetings over the past few weeks ! I can still drive though but not drink !

Whilst I have been discharged from nearly 9 weeks of being (private and NHS) an experiment of the medical profession - (can anybody tell me what happened in March/April ?) - I will continue to take some of the most revolting tasting oral medication for the next few months in addition to have some physiotherapy and personal training to get my body mass back and be on regular insulin injections to complement the effects of the drugs on my Type 2 diabetic condition - apart from that I am well and available for work !

For those in the UK I hope to see/speak/correspond with you all over the next few weeks/ months either through e-mail/MSN/Skype, work or social events.

For those of you outside the UK I have had a number of offers to come and recuperate in warm climes - suffice to say I am considering the many options ! Basra and certain parts of the West Bank for some reason are not high on the list !

With Kindest Regards

Byron/BJ & Suzanne Bartlett

PS - With regard the BARTLETT diet - but not recommended- I am currently:

Waist: - 30" - 31"
Weight:- 10stone 12lbs
Sixpack: - On its way !
Hair: - Growing back - although still not as luxuriant `strawberry blond` as it was when I was 12 !

PPS - Now I have to write to all those who are not on e-mail - thank God for `handwriting fonts', colour printers and address labels !