Thursday 4th March 2010 and it’s a dry and chilly morning with frost on the ground. Early rise and I am starving….my last meal was lunchtime the day before as I have to prepare for the procedure by ensuring that my bowels were clear. This involved a light meal at mid day and taking two sachets of a laxative during the day. The first was not too bad, but wow the second was lets say very effective.So once showered and changed its 06:45 and my taxi awaits for the 5 minute journey to the hospital.
I arrive just before 07:00 and am taking to my room where a nurse completes the booking in process…weight, height, medical history …etc.I am having my procedure today at Spire Roundhay Leeds as through work (Lloyds Banking Group) I have private medical cover.
Just before 08:00 my consultant pops in to say hello and talk me through the procedure and asks me to provide a signature for my consent. Just as he leaves my nurse arrives with my gown and a bed pan….possibly for me post treatment. She then goes into the bathroom and starts to run the tap….and when I ask if she is running a bath, she jokes and replies that she is warming up my surprise.
Now I am excited about getting a surprise, but this soon disappears when reality kicks in, its my enema. Now bearing in mind what I had taken the day before was this really necessary….oh yes.
So I lay on the bed in my gown to receive my enema ( I am sure you get the picture)…….talk about a fast reaction…..that’s me now in the bathroom for the next 30 minutes.
Its now just before 09:00 and I am back to normal and an assistant arrives to escort me to theatre…its all go this morning…..
It was quite strange to see a surgical theatre whilst awake as previously I would have been under a general aesthetic. There was my consultant surrounded by his team and that’s when the nerves kicked in…..no going back Alex I muttered.
As my colonoscopy today was not going fully up the boweI just had some pre med to calm me down.
I laid on the bed and turned to my side and as the med kicked in, so did conversation. One of the theatre staff asked if I would like to look at the monitor and watch the procedure….no way was that going to happen. After everything I have been through, to date I have not seen the tumour and for me that is the only part of my journey that can stay in my medical file.
So we talked about the England game the previous evening against Egypt..3-1, whist my consultant commenced the procedure. During the examination he told me that he had found a polyp and was in the process of removing it and I did not feel a thing. That to be fair was all he said and the entire process lasted 10 minutes.
I was then taken back to my room in a wheel chair and I remembering asking him on the way out if all was fine. I don’t remember the entire sentence word for word but he said that he will pop in to see me shortly.
So back in my room I had some tea and toast and then got changed.
An hour had passed when there was a knock at the door and in walked my consultant accompanied by my nurse. I was sat in the chair when he arrived and I remember looking down at my watch…it was 10:43. He sat on the bed and told me that he had removed the polyp using a laser and then said that he had found a tumour and had taken a biopsy for the lab to test. However he was 90% certain at this point that it was Cancer ……
Numbness now set …and in a panicky voice as my entire world flashed past me I asked if I was going to die. What a question to ask…..but he assured me that it was treatable and that the outlook should be good for me.He asked if I had anymore questions and then explained that he was retiring at the end of the month and that he would be passing my case on to a colleague, who rang me that day to arrange for a second colonoscopy.
He wished me all the best and left the room leaving me with my nurse. She was great and supportive, but I just wanted to get out and by 11:00 I had left the building.
Helen my line manager and also a very good friend was the first person that I told, she asked how I went on and I said that it looks like I am going to needing quite a lot of time off in the future. I could hear her voice change dramatically and the tables I think turned with me assuring Helen I would be fine.
I drove home and mum asked how I went…I replied all fine…..I will explain later why I decided not to tell the truth at this stage.
