Hard Graft

To the tune of 'Dem bones'.

Well the cheek flap's connected to the wrist graft,

And the wrist graft's connected to the tummy tuck,

And that's the way of the cure."


A week after being released for hospital I went back to have the dressing removed from my wrist graft. Again it was held in place by metal staples and a scar went all the way up my arm to the inside of my elbow where some artery had been removed. Slowly the bandage, the padding and then the foam 'pressure dressing' were removed. The graft had not been looked at for more than three weeks as it needed constant pressure to ensure that it took and that new blood vessels grew into it so that it would become part of my arm rather than just a surface dressing. The medical staff were delighted when finally they saw what had been hidden. The graft was perfect, it had taken all round without any patches of weakness. In fact it was so good that they wanted to take photos of it to be used for educational purposes. Unsurprisingly in this day and age, I had to sign a release form to give my permission and to forgo any royalties. I was still not allowed to flex or bend it, not to carry anything heavy nor drive. I had a lighter dressing put on just to act as a reminder that it was still not right.


Two days later I was back in hospital again. The community nurse had expressed a little concern about one of the wounds in my neck. It was a bit red and a bit swollen so she suggested that I should go back to see the doctors in hospital. One phone call and two hours later I was back in the consulting rooms having needles stuck in my neck, samples of fluid extracted for analysis and prescriptions written for antibiotics. Satisfied that everything was now under control, I was sent home to continue recovery and self-medicate.

The following morning Elaine was even more concerned. My neck was more swollen and tight. Even so I did not feel ill nor have any sign of a temperature but when the nurse came she was sufficiently concerned to suggest that I should go back to the hospital again. So, on Friday afternoon I was back in the consulting rooms again with the doctor muttering that my neck did not look too good. He peeled back the dressing and we all got the shock of our lives when a considerable amount of fluid that looked like cream of tomato soup but smelt of dog-shit, came gushing out. I didn't look to see how much but I did feel the doc get two fingers into the hole to scoop out any remaining gunk.

"You'll have to stay in," he said and so my second weekend in hospital began. I was on I.V. drips of antibiotics three times a day in another single room. Unfortunately the entire communication/entertainment unit was not working so I had no TV, no Internet, no games and only my own transistor radio for company. I did a lot of reading!! By Monday the wound was beginning to heal and the infection was under control so I was allowed out but under instructions not to drive and still to avoid any heavy lifting. At least the Rugby world cup was about to start and the seven one day games against India were underway. There was something to focus on and think about.

The next day, Tuesday, was the second training day for those who were returning to teaching this year. It was held at school. Around lunch-time Elaine chauffeured me to Droitwich and we called in to see friends and colleagues. We had a good time catching up, enquiring about peoples' holidays and catching up on news. It was good to be able to show friends that I was well and recovering and still the same old person they had known just a few weeks before. We talked and talked and talked and instead of staying for the half-hour planned we were there for two hours at least. The rest of the week went in a daze of listening to cricket, seeing the district nurse, taking antibiotics and falling asleep. By Saturday night we were both so tired that we went out to get a take-away, my first non home-cooked food. A local pub has recently opened a Thai restaurant - just a five minute drive away. I managed to eat it although I was slow but the Yellow Thai Chicken Curry with Vegetable Fried Rice was excellent. I was not allowed wine as I was still on antibiotics but even so, this was a big treat.

The following Tuesday and we were back at the hospital again, this time for an appointment. The dressing was removed from my wrist graft and not replaced. There are still dozens of stitches in it but I am told that they are self dissolving and will come out by themselves in time. I had two stitches removed from the front of my lip - these were catching on food, towels and tissues when I wiped my mouth and so were a bit uncomfortable. The docs said I was OK to drive; I met the speech therapist who said I was making wonderful progress and really had no need of her expertise; the nutritionalist came and made new arrangements regarding my liquid diet and then it was a question of waiting to meet the Dalek from Cheltenham.

After another long wait he came rolling in and told us what he felt he needed to do. As expected, he would zap my cheek and the left side of my neck hoping to exterminate any nasty little cancer cells that had escaped the lymph nodes and were now just waiting to reproduce like rabbits in my neck. Just to be sure he was also going to zap the right had side of my neck as well. It would take five weeks or twenty-five sessions. The first two weeks would be fine, the third week will start getting uncomfortable, the fourth and fifth weeks are likely to be unpleasant with sore (burnt) throat, ulcers in the mouth, a swollen tongue and 'sun'burnt cheeks. My 'olive' skin may offer some protection against the burning but no-body can say how any individual will react. Analgesia will be available as well as creams to help the skin recover. When it's all over I will probably not grow a beard in the radiated areas although I will need to shave the rest, the treated area will remain photo-sensitive and so I'll have to slap on sunblock before going out on sunny, summer days and my jaw bone and skin will find it harder to heal after any injury - I'll have to be careful. Elaine has done some Internet research about getting through this as easily as possible and next Tuesday we're off to Bath to see a complimentary doctor who specialises in cancer. I hope she may be able to suggest ways both to deal with the radiotherapy but also to approach life after treatment to ensure the minimum chance of the cancer returning. The fact that she is also a GP gives me some confidence that this is more that just blatant quackery.

Just as we were about to leave I asked again about exercises to help open my mouth wider. The exercise kit ordered had still not arrived so in best Professor Branestawm manner the butcher asked for a box of wooden 'Tongue Depressants". He took out eight and, having asked me to open my mouth, slid them (just) between my teeth. Then another one was taken from the box and it was inserted in the middle of the first eight and slid in stretching my gape just a little more. "Do this three times a day and keep them in place for thirty seconds," I was told. So this looks like a new exercise regime for the foreseeable future. I suppose I will stop when I can bite an apple or take a mouthful of melon but I expect it will be a long, slow process.

Two hours later we finally got out of the hospital and I drove. Before I went in we were looking at changing the car and so we now picked up where we left off. We'd been looking at a Kia Sportage small 4x4. The only other vehicle in the frame was a Honda CRv. These two are very similar in many ways. From appearance to equipment, size, tax, performance, emissions and more they almost like non-identical twins. Ultimately we went back to our first criteria - comfort. The Honda shaded it on this as it did, just, on noise levels. I had also read one comment on the Internet that claimed that Kia owners reported a number of worries regarding the transmission and air-conditioning. So we negotiated £800 off the windscreen price of a Honda and got a reasonable trade-in on my Alfa 145. So my recovery is benefiting from a little bit of retail therapy, our budget will benefit from lower fuel and road tax costs and next Thursday we'll be the happy owners of a new vehicle.

Today is the birthday of one of our closest friends. As we often did 'pre-cancer' we'll meet up this evening at a local Indian restaurant for a curry - my first meal out since hospital. I hope I'll manage and enjoy it even if, as I expect, I'll be a bit slow on the eating.

Well, that's it for now. It's taken me a long time to get round to recording this. I've either been in the garden or test-driving cars, watching rugby, cricket or football or falling asleep. But now, in GWB's famous words, "Job Done". There will be more to add so watch this space but don't hold you breath.

Ron