2009-03-21 — Tumour news: All going well, home on Monday

Dear All

First of all thanks to all of you who emailed, texted or phoned me -- it is a great help to know I have so many friends wishing me well.

Things are going well. After two days of tests and scans I had the operation late Tuesday afternoon. It apparently went well (I was asleep during it so cannot confirm that) and I spent a comfortable night in the recovery station. There was a 85 year old lady in the bed next to me (separated by a screen) who was complaining very loudly all night that they had her in the wrong place and wanting to know why she hadn't been operated on (she had of course) so sleep was a bit disturbed but comfortable.

Wednesday and most of Thursday were a bit uncomfortable but I was got out of bed and taken on walks by a young physiotherapist which surprisingly enough helped a lot. Then Thursday evening the drains were removed from the wound and things really looked up. Almost all the discomfort disappeared and there is a great psychological boost in being able to get up and do things without having to call a nurse to be disconnected from pumps and things. Started using the computer and reading books from that point -- before that I just dozed or listened to the radio.

I will be going home Monday which is great but the results of the biopsy won't be known until later next week. Then they will decide on what further treatment is needed. There is a small chance that what was removed was not malignant but that's not something I'm banking on right now.

And the bad news? Well I am having a running Spoon Battle again -- they keep giving me teaspoons to eat my soup and yogurt with (real men don't eat yogurt with baby spoons) so every time I see a real spoon I 'borrow' it and hide it in my room. Then the yogurt (my staple food) comes in bowls covered in cling film which I find almost impossible to remove, the bowl being completely enclosed. Am I alone in the world in thinking that cling film is the Devil's Invention? When you try to put it on it sticks to anything possible except what it is supposed to and once it is stuck it won't come separated.

So you can see my troubles are really rather trivial!

I wish you all a good weekend -- looks sunny out of my window -- I hope you have the same

love to all

David