Wed 12 Mar 2014: Back to hospital to meet my surgeon

When Wednesday finally arrived I was anxious to get to my appointment at the surgeon's clinic in good time.  We arrived and it was fairly busy, but we didn't have to wait long.  Pam and I were ushered through to a consulting room where we met Bev who was to become my MacMillan nurse, and Mr Holliman the professor who would conduct the operation.

We reviewed the scans and he told us of his suspicion that it was a tumour and quite a nasty one.  He said it was the size of a walnut and he wanted to get it out as soon as possible.  I was expecting a week or so, but he asked me to go home, pack a bag, call the bed manager and come back into whichever nurosurgery ward has space.  He also said a couple of other things which have stuck in my memory.  His first was " you are never the same once the air has hit the brain".  He also said he'd done a couple of hundred removals like this and he knew what he was doing - that's always good as experimenting on a brain isn't something I'd recommend!  Although, I guess someone was first once upon a time.  "Don't worry Mr Smith, this is my first operation.  What could possibly go wrong!?"

We talked through the operation and I asked how they actually remove the piece of scull.  The answer, amazingly, is that they drill lots of holes around in a circle, then get a saw and join them all together and the piece just lifts out! Wow!  They keep that piece and fit it back at the end, then staple the cut back together.  It is pretty incredible what they can do these days... Thank goodness!

After the consultation was over, we went home, packed a bag and went back to the Royal Victoria Infirmary where the operation was going to be performed on Friday morning!

I went to a nuro ward this time where 3 other patients were being looked after.  One was a drug addict with a nasty abscess which was being treated with full on IV antibiotics, although finding useable veins was a problem.  Another was waiting for a shunt to be fitted to alleviate another condition which was causing fluid to build up in his head which made him very unsteady.  He was a funny chap and always going to the wrong toilet.  He was also pretty adamant that he wasn't going to have the operation!!

The final chap was a very young soldier who'd been blown up by an IED somewhere and was suffering from huge blast shock, as well as other physical injuries.  He'd been in the ward for a few months and was moving to a rehab unit in a couple of weeks.  He was called Dan and he looked so sad.  He didn't interact much, spoke no words at all, and just held a rather scruffy looking soft toy.  Such a sad waste of a young mans life.  I hope he recovered but I will never know.

I settled into the ward, and the institutionalisation and it wasn't long before it was time for tea (chosen by someone who had the bed yesterday).  As ever the food was pretty good and I had just finished it when Pam and George came to see me.  They stayed for a couple of hours before heading home.  Apart from the ongoing routine of drugs that I was already on, and some more in preparation for the operation, observations, cups of coffee, and general constant flow of nursing staff walking backwards and forwards, not much else happened and I went to sleep.  Tomorrow was going to be another big day as I was having the final planning scan!