I got to the hospital OK, a volunteer appeared and willingly and cheerfully wheeled me to the Short Stay Unit where I was immediately put into a hospital gown. Error. Several of us sat in a waiting room and I for one got progressively more and more chilled. It would have been better if we had waited first, fully clothed, and then got changed when they were ready for us.
The Colonoscopy I found unpleasant. I could not have an anaesthetic because I had come alone by taxi and if you have an anaesthetic you must have someone with you afterwards and a taxi driver is not enough. So I was given gas and air to suck but I couldn’t detect it having any effect, beneficial or otherwise. A nurse sat by my head and offered consolation, said I was doing very well, but it didn’t seem like that to me, and at times it was painful which, on reflection, may have been when they took samples for biopsy.
Eventually it was all over and I got wheeled off to “Recovery” where for some unaccountable reason I began to shiver uncontrollably. They gave me an extra blanket, but these NHS blankets are very open weave and are no good at keeping you warm. I got a glass of water first, and then later some tuna mayonnaise sandwiches which were very good, and a cup of tea which resembled no drink known to man. The Sister who carried out the Colonoscopy came in, a lovely person, and told me that they had found and removed a polyp, but that they had also found three “lesions”. She was concerned about one, less concerned about the next, and less again about number three. She suspected that the first two might be cancerous and wanted me to know. She was very kind and concerned – more concerned than I was I think. She said that the biopsies would take until the end of the next week to produce results, and she gave me her name and work phone number and said we should phone her at any time if we had concerns. They then took some blood samples and I was allowed to go home. The procedures did not start till about 3.00 pm, and by the time I got away it was past 6.00 pm, so when I eventually arrived home my wife already suspected that something might be wrong.
The next thing was an appointment by telephone a day or two later to go and have a CT Scan, which I did and had yet another blood test done. From what I remember this was intended to look for any signs of cancer having spread elsewhere in my body.
And a day or two after that the colonoscopy Sister rang to say an appointment had been made for me plus my wife to see a Mr. Dreyer at the DGRI on 20th July next. So our taxi is booked and we await that date. The taxi driver, a good man, has offered to hang about near the hospital to take us home again afterwards, which is nice of him, but may turn out to be expensive.
