I know I was telling the story of my tumour journey last year, but to be honest we had got towards the end of things. And I have far more exciting and slightly depressing news to tell. Well it would be depressing if I wanted it to be, but as I don't it isn't. Upshot was that after a long spell in hospital I finally had an MRI scan and they decided the tumour was now inoperable! I cried when they told me. But then I had to get strong to talk to the kids (Pam was with me when I got the news). Pam went to collect Jordan as she lives in her own flat in Newcastle these days, whilst I waited at home. That was a long hour, but they arrived and I sat then down and told then the latest. We all cried again, and I can't say it was great, but it was worth doing and, although i have no idea what t hey currently think, at least we are all on the same page! They were both upset but kids do come to terms with things in their own way, and right now they seem fine!
So, what happened at the RVI then? Well, quite a lot over the 5 weeks that I was there. I am going to attempt to retell that story, starting with how I got there in the first place, which is actually good news!
It all started on 12th May with a planned trip for a routine (if there is such a thing) removal of what we had been told was more tumour! I knew something wasn't right as i had been suffering with headaches for a few weeks and had pushed to get my latest scan! The results made interesting reading and my oncologist had already decided it was more tumour and she'd managed to speak to my surgeon who'd been really keen to have "another go"! He'd been surprised to hear that the tumour had returned but was happy to go again! So, following a quick chat with him at his consulting room, a fairly fast pre-admission meeting, I was booked in for about 10 days time!
That is also a good thing as they don't deal with it quite so dramatically and you get a chance to make plans. I arranged was able to organise suitable cover for all my commitments and leave everything well planned for, before heading to hospital on the Tuesday morning.
The operation was a great success and I was released to go home on the Thursday afternoon. Wow, major brain operation and I am home in 2 days. Incredible. And I felt great. In fact my sister was due to come and stay at the end of the following week so Pam and I spent a lot of time getting rid of junk from the spare room, getting it decorated and laying a new carpet, etc! And I was fully involved, everything seemed perfect. Rebecca came to stay and we had a good laugh doing the stuff we had always planned to do. All good you would say! So how did I end up in hospital for 5 weeks?...
