Story So Far

To bring things up to date (the few people I've spoken to about the last couple of months can probably skip this bit; though they may be interested in the Marmite jar story, I'll put it in bold so it's easy to find) this is the sequence of events that has led to where we are today.

Some time on holiday this year in Zakynthos in July (lovely time thanks; here's the video if you missed it. Keep an eye out for the scooter, it's relevant)....

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12op1i

....I came across a little lump in my neck; where you get a bit of a swelling when you have tonsilitis, but only on the right side. Didn't really give it much thought at the time.

The middle week that we were there we hired a scooter which was great fun; but one time while Debbie (my wife) was getting on it she lost balance and it started to topple over, I grabbed it and managed to pull it back upright but in the process hurt my left wrist.

Anyway, holiday over, came home and through August the wrist continued to hurt whenever I strained it so finally decided to go and see my GP about it. September 6th I was sat in the waiting room and actually feeling a little foolish because it wasn't hurting at all, so I thought what else can I ask him about? Remembered the little lump in my neck that hadn't gone away still so I decided to mention it. Doc said that the wrist was tendonitis and would go away in time but he got a bit interested by my neck; and that's when things started going a bit crazy.

Had a fast track referral (think that was what he called it) to ENT out patients in Exeter five days later where a doctor stuck a camera up my nose for a look, then called in Dr Helena Wilson (lovely consultant in the department who we got to know quite well) for a confirmation of his opinion that they should do an ultrasound scan and take a needle biopsy asap and book me in provisionally for day case surgery to remove the thing.

Appointment came through for the following week (18th Sept) when a really nice doctor did the scan then said that in his opinion the biopsy was unnecessary because the result may well be inconclusive and if they were going to remove the lump anyway he saw no point in causing me extra pain. Also said that he'd seen hundreds of cases like mine over the years and that he thought that it being anything "nasty" was unlikely.

Then I got an unexpected appointment through for the following week (26th) to see Dr Wilson again. She said she did want the biopsy done because it may have an impact on what she did in the surgery so she took one then (actually she took two, after she'd shoved the camera up my nose again).

Following week (4th October) had an uneventful pre-op check.

Then, that afternoon, with the surgery booked for Tuesday 8th October I got a phone call from Dr Wilson's secretary asking me to go to out patients half an hour before I went to the ward because she wanted to discuss the procedure with me. Got to say this (rightly as it turned out) rang alarm bells and the week-end was difficult.

So on the Tuesday we went in, our daughter Jess came with us because it was going to be a long day of waiting for Deb, with the possibility of me having to stay overnight. Got the news that we'd both been half expecting, that the biopsy showed malignancy which meant I had cancer....though they couldn't put a name to it yet.

They gave us ten minutes in a room by ourselves and went and called in Jess from the waiting room; Deb sobbed for a few minutes but has been immensely strong (in front of me at least) ever since.

The objective then became to find out where it had come from because you don't just get lymph node cancer apparently (I don't think I've even mentioned that it was a lymph node have I? It was), you get it somewhere else and it spreads to the nearest lymph node, so the search for the "somewhere else" was on.

Done enough for now, I'll pick this up again in a couple of days.....and I didn't even get to the Marmite jar. Sorry.