A lot of people me included at times moan about the NHS, but once your in the system it actually supports you very well, I get appointments one after the other for chest x-rays, jaw x-rays, CT scans, MRI scans, blood tests - full body scan and what they are checking for is it cancer, where is it, is it beyond my neck, so they can plan what the next steps are, and I get the impression the choices could be limited if it has spread. Yeah it takes a few weeks but I actually feel very calm about this - don't know why, maybe just a realisation that we are here again and nothing I can do but trust the doctors that are going to help try and save my life
So post my initial scans I go back to the ENT centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. I have an appointment with a specialist to go through my scans and to talk about the next steps
eh no! Having previously been here after some crazy nose bleeds he thinks I have come in for a follow up from last years appointment! I point out that I am actually here to discuss the outcome of my MRI/CT scans. I have obviously caught him completely off-guard and I can tell he is extremely embarrassed - I actually really feel for him as you think you have good news for someone and you're then talking about cancer.
What I though was extremely professional of him was not to just boot me out and tell me I needed a different appointment, he walked me through the MRI, identifying which is later proved correct that the source tumour is at the back of my tongue at the lower point, he tells me the size and shoves camera up my nose to look down the back of my throat to see if he can identify where the tumour is - he can!
He proceeds to setup the referral to the OUH Head & Neck Unit at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford
So quite funny, but also its not good as a doctor for him to be caught out like this, so I am actually more embarrassed for him than me
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