A VERY Nice Man

My mouth has just got painful since last weekend. Suddenly I find that I'm just bitting the inside of my mouth when I chew. Either it has swollen a little more or I've bitten it unknowingly (in the night?) or something else. Whatever now, every time I chew anything I'm just aware of nipping the inside of my left cheek. Eating is no longer a pleasure and for the last 48 hours I've been living on a liquid diet of soup and scrambled egg. I think I'm likely to start liquidise other food for variety and to avoid have to prepare two meals. I'm also likely to get a juicer. This was recommended by the Bristol Cancer Centre. They want be to boost my immune system and improve my diet by drinking organic apple and carrot juice. Well if I can't chew this maybe a good idea.
I'm glad I did my homework - and that may just be the first time in my lifeI've ever said that! Spend most of yesterday in UCHL. Deliberately got there early in the hope that I might be seen early and get away before the rush hour. I didn't and so Elaine and I sat for an hour and a half in a cramped, overheated waiting room. I had an amusing read to keep me occupied and she had her novel but it was still tedious and trying. Eventually, at about 4.00pm we met the consultant himself. He took a look in my mouth and unhesitatingly agreed that it could be treated, with a likely success rate of 88 - 93%. It's likely to hurt - possibly like hell, but they'll give me a bucket load of analgesics (everything from paracetamol to morphine) as well as opiate patches, to control the pain. They'll remove my wisdom teeth which are now catching my cheek and which may have had some part to play in damaging my cheek; they'll inject me with the magic potion that both finds and then destroys the cancer cells; they lock me away in a darkened room for the next three days and then they'll zap my cheek with a laser. Following this I may stay in hospital for night or two more whilst they monitor my light sensitivity and initial recovery and then I have to become a vampire for another two weeks or so whilst I am still highly photosensitive. With good luck within four weeks life should be back to something like normal. I won't be able to work in the garden all day, well not stripped to the waist anyway, but I will be able to go out for short walks as long as I'm covered and it's not wall-to-wall Mediterranean sunshine. Within 3 months things should pretty much be back to normal but I will need to keep my injection arm covered for abut 6 months to be sure that all the magic potion has cleared out of my system. After that, monitoring for another 5 years and hopefully all will be OK.
So when can they start?
Injections are given on Friday and treatment the following Tuesday. So ... not tomorrow, possibly next Friday (27th July), more likely the following Friday (3rd August) but just maybe the Friday after that (10th). The longer it's put off the more time I'll have to get the garden sorted.
So,that's where it's at now - and for those of you wondering - yes all on the NHS.
OK, time to go to work - more soon.

Ron