Third Time Lucky
I felt a certain amount of
Déjà vu regarding whilst writing this post.
Going back to December 2015,
when I eventually built up the courage to go and see my GP regarding my
inability to talk louder than a church mouse, I encouraged anyone who’d had a
long term concern to put on their big boys pants and get themselves to their
GP. I’ve had a small patch of dry skin on the inside of my knee for a year or
so, and more recently a patch of skin above my cheek that was scabbed and dry
for at least 4 months. As usual I ignored them. Eventually I’d had enough of
waking to a bloody pillow case each morning and made an appointment to see my
GP. I was lucky to get an appointment 90 minutes after my phone call, and
didn’t have to go through any hoops with the Receptionist as to why I needed an
appointment.
The Dr. examined both patches
of skin (luckily I was wearing clean underpants) and decided that with my
history of being really bad at getting better, he’d better refer me up the
line. Hello “14 Day Pathway”, it’s been a while. If you’re referred as a
potential cancer risk you should be seen within 14 days of the referral, hence
the 14 Day Pathway. I was contacted by Royal Berkshire Hospital less than 24
working hours of my initial GP’s appointment and given a hospital appointment six
days from the referral. Outstanding performance from our much maligned NHS.
I rocked up at the
Dermatology Dept. 10 minutes early for my appointment. The sign on the wall
said “Clinic Delays”, it was boiling hot and packed. Welcome back to the NHS I
know and love. Eventually I was called in, it was actually 5 minutes before my
appointment was due, but I’m trying to build up the tension here a bit.
The Dr. asked me to go into a
cubicle, remove my shirt and drop my trousers. Who am I to refuse such a polite
request? He proceeded to then examine my upper body and back with some sort of
magic scope thingy, before taking a closer look at my knee and my cheek. The
upshot is that my body is in good condition for my age (I think he was talking
about skin type rather than muscle mass!). The area around my knee could be
treated by being frozen, but the patch of skin on my cheek will need surgery as
it is a Basal cell carcinoma, ie Skin Cancer L “not again” was the first thought that went through my head. The extremely
good news is that BCC is the most common form of cancer, easily treatable,
rarely spreads or returns and has nothing whatsoever to do with my previous two
versions. This has most likely been caused by exposure to the sun over the
years. I’ve been referred to a Plastic Surgeon for a consultation on how to
proceed, but it’s likely that a small op, done under a local anaesthetic will
be offered. As it’s a Plastic Surgeon I’m going to ask if he could possible
straighten my nose out whilst he’s there. Hopefully this will all be done in
the next couple of months. Whilst I was still in the “Trousers Down” position
he went on to “freeze” the patch on my knee, blimey it was still stinging 24
hours later, but it should fall off in the next couple of weeks. I presume he
means the patch of skin will fall off and not my leg.
So, to reiterate, if you’ve
got something wrong with you, and it’s hanging around, GO AND SEE YOUR DR, do
not pass Go and do not collect £200.
Finally for this brief
update, watch this short video of Rams scoring the winning try in the last
minute of their match last week against local rivals Henley RFC. It should take
your mind away from me sitting sans trousers in a cubicle. The match was one of
those “I was there” moments J
- The Battle of the Thames
As always, thanks for
reading.
To be continued…………….
#Shoulder2Shoulder
