But the Hon. John Stubbs, who spoke to The Royal Gazette yesterday from his Cleveland, Ohio hospital bed, said any such decisions would wait until he returned to Bermuda, possibly as early as today.

"There's a lot of fight in the old dog, yet,'' said the Paget East MP, who is 62 this year.

He was surrounded by his wife Robin and other family members after being flown to Cleveland Clinic Foundation for treatment on May 24.

Dr. Stubbs, who said he felt "much better than I did four days ago,'' was unable to eat or drink in recent weeks, or even swallow his own saliva.

He was being treated by a former classmate who was head of vascular medicine at the Cleveland hospital.

There was "a little doubt about'' whether cancer he was treated for in Boston early in 1993 had recurred, he said.

"In fairness to my constituents and my political colleagues, I can't pretend that I'm something that I'm not,'' he said. "I would like to know a little bit more.'' Asked if he was considering resigning his seat, Dr. Stubbs said: "I've had to think about that, but it will be a problem I'll explore when I get back, late tomorrow or early the next day.

"I can tell you there are a lot of personal advantages to a small-town hospital compared to a great multi-disciplined hospital in a highly-industrialised nation,'' he said. "I will sing the praises more loudly than ever of our own hospital.'' Despite failing health, Dr. Stubbs recently championed a private member's bill to decriminalise consensual sex between adult males. He voted on the contentious bill in the House of Assembly but had to leave the Island for treatment the day before it was passed in the Senate.

Dr. Stubbs was also linked to a recent plot to oust Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan over his handling of the Independence issue.

DR. STUBBS: Fighting.