I had an appointment for 24^th July but during that the morning I had a phone call to say that I had been booked into the wrong clinic(?) and could I come on the Friday – so off I popped to my local hospital and saw the ENT consultant.  We had a chat about what had led me to him today and he expertly pushed a camera up my nose and down my throat and there I saw and met Tony for the first time, even to me, he was obvious, a blob on the back of my tongue about to release chaos on my life.

There were no if and but’s I had to have a biopsy soonest and I was filled with confidence as the ball seemed to be rolling in the right direction.

A pre-op was arranged for the 30^th and the biopsy for 7^th August – wow, I thought, this is quick, this is good, this is worrying.  Biopsy took a little longer than expected as Tony had a friend, a cyst snuggled up next to him, but the surgeon made short work of removing it.  Post surgery, the surgeon came and saw me and assured me “that if it was anything untoward then he was confident that it had been caught in time”.

Seven days later on 15^th August (my brothers’ birthday, just as a by the by), I was called back in to be told that I had a cancerous tumour on my tongue, but it was good news as it was Stage 1 and definitely treatable with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I was sent away with a Head and Neck nurse who told me that I would need a six-week course of treatment; chemo on a Monday, radio every day of the week (except weekends) and that I needed to get a plan together to make this happen.  I had my teeth x-rayed and was told that a head guard would need to be made for the radiotherapy.

I left the hospital in a daze, I had been delivered the news I knew to be true, told what was going to happen and then left to leave to get on with the plan.

I had to go home and tell Kingy and George and in that moment I told them I could see the worry in their faces and the tears in their eyes and I hated myself for causing this sadness in them.

With the help of Dotty Bird’s (a trusted band of fabulous friends) a plan was hatched to get me to and fro to the hospital and keep my shop open for the six weeks of treatment.

I had a chest, neck and brain CT Scan on 20^th August which would also check my brain and neck (important point).

Two weeks later I had not heard anything, so called and was invited back in on the 29^th to be told that following a MDT (medical disciplinary team) meeting the consensus was that I would not have the original plan but I was being referred to Exeter for surgery.  Robotics on my tongue and a full dissection(1). The robot would remove the tumour from my tongue (having studied robotics as part of my Japanese Manufacturing Degree (yes I have been to university, First Class Honours actually)) I understood the rudiments of robotic surgery.  I was also told that the earlier CT Scan was clear, my neck and brain were cancer free – again, an important point.

A neck dissection is an operation to remove groups of lymph nodes from the neck. This operation is performed on patients with cancer of the head and neck and involves literally cutting the neck, cutting and clamping my main blood vessels including the jugular, removing the lymph nodes and reconnecting me.  The hospital gave me a few days to think about and I spoke to a small selection of family and friends to canvas their opinions and the decision was made to go for the surgery.  On the Friday morning I mustered up the courage to call the hospital to advise that I had made the toughest decision of my life only to be told ‘sorry the office is closed until Tuesday’!  I called again on the Tuesday and the option was confirmed and I was to wait for an appointment / contact from Exeter.

I heard nothing until 9^th September where I had a telephone consultation with the surgeon at Exeter and an appointment was made for a face-to-face with him on 16^th September (this was eight weeks from my first appointment and five weeks from diagnosis).

I met the surgeon (very lovely and helpful chap), who said that the best course of actions was to have surgery and another rolling ball was set in a motion.  After the surgeon, I had a very thorough pre-op which was followed by a full body PET scan .  Positron emission tomography (PET) scans detect early signs of cancer, heart disease and brain conditions. It involves an injection of a safe radioactive tracer that helps detect diseased cells – basically this marvellous machine detects any other cancer in the body. 

There were very high risks with the surgery but the longevity of my life was at stake.  There was a 99% chance of a full recovery from the cancer without the need for further treatment and the chances of recurrent cancer were virtually zero.  Alternatively, there was the option of chemo and radio which is problematic and does not mean that the cancer will not return.  I decided to take a chance to improve my life.

Six weeks from diagnosis, nine weeks from my initial appointment, surgery was planned for Saturday 28^th September. (I made a lot of calls).

Please check yourself, here are some links: https://coppafeel.org/ https://prostatecanceruk.org/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-cancer-screening/ https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/skin-cancer/

“It is only when we take chances that our lives improve. The initial and the most difficult risk we need to take is to become honest.” —Walter Anderson

#bootupandstompit

(1) Neck Dissection Info