Sunday, May 28, 2006
I had no idea
It's now five weeks since my specialist, Mr P, broke the news to my wife Gwen and myself that I had prostate cancer. Given the amount of it that was discovered there seemed to be no alternative to surgery.
My specialist arranged for his receptionist to make the necessary bookings. She proceeded to make a phone call to someone telling them that I was having 'a radical'. A radical? I don't think I've been described as a radical for over 20 years.
Since then, things haven't gone quite as I'd planned. I'd many things to organise to ensure that my business continued with as little disruption as possible to our clients. And I decided that it would be good to keep myself busy by scheduling quite a few training courses with clients that I could run in the intervening period. That would take my mind off the operation and everything that might follow. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
I had no idea just what would be required of me medically in the intervening period. I had to give a pint of blood 3 times one week apart. This is so they could use my blood in the operation. Good idea but I just didn't expect it.
I did wonder if it meant that my specialist was a bit like Doc Martin in the UK TV series. In other words, he was unable to stand the sight of blind and maybe figured if he could remove it all from my veins prior to the op he was less likely to faint at the operating table. Just to help him out, I've been doing my best to fill my veins with Chardonnay rather than Shiraz. Anything I can do to help the surgeon!
Of course, the thing about having a pint of blood removed from you each week is that it does slow you down. A bit of a challenge with the work schedule I'd committed myself to.
And then there were the medical appointments, the additional visits for blood tests and the appointment with my anaesthetist. He sat me down and proceeded to go into the most amazing detail about the two forms of anaesthetic he could use (far more information than I wanted to know). Then he asked which option I wanted to use. Me? I thought he was the specialist, he was the one who'd studied this stuff for five years and practiced it for 30. And he couldn't decide which to use! It's a worry. Now, I'm sure this is because of threats of litigation these days but who was I to choose? My answer, which ever takes away the most pain for the longest period.
Ah well, tomorrows the day. And the main task left on my 'To Do' list is to respond to the amazing numbers of emails people have sent me. I'm only up to the 10th May so I'd better get on with it because I really do want everyone to know how much I've appreciated their kind thoughts...and some of the humour has been great. I'll sign off with a Mark Twain quote sent to me by Paul Wennagel from Esperance:
'Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.'
My specialist arranged for his receptionist to make the necessary bookings. She proceeded to make a phone call to someone telling them that I was having 'a radical'. A radical? I don't think I've been described as a radical for over 20 years.
Since then, things haven't gone quite as I'd planned. I'd many things to organise to ensure that my business continued with as little disruption as possible to our clients. And I decided that it would be good to keep myself busy by scheduling quite a few training courses with clients that I could run in the intervening period. That would take my mind off the operation and everything that might follow. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
I had no idea just what would be required of me medically in the intervening period. I had to give a pint of blood 3 times one week apart. This is so they could use my blood in the operation. Good idea but I just didn't expect it.
I did wonder if it meant that my specialist was a bit like Doc Martin in the UK TV series. In other words, he was unable to stand the sight of blind and maybe figured if he could remove it all from my veins prior to the op he was less likely to faint at the operating table. Just to help him out, I've been doing my best to fill my veins with Chardonnay rather than Shiraz. Anything I can do to help the surgeon!
Of course, the thing about having a pint of blood removed from you each week is that it does slow you down. A bit of a challenge with the work schedule I'd committed myself to.
And then there were the medical appointments, the additional visits for blood tests and the appointment with my anaesthetist. He sat me down and proceeded to go into the most amazing detail about the two forms of anaesthetic he could use (far more information than I wanted to know). Then he asked which option I wanted to use. Me? I thought he was the specialist, he was the one who'd studied this stuff for five years and practiced it for 30. And he couldn't decide which to use! It's a worry. Now, I'm sure this is because of threats of litigation these days but who was I to choose? My answer, which ever takes away the most pain for the longest period.
Ah well, tomorrows the day. And the main task left on my 'To Do' list is to respond to the amazing numbers of emails people have sent me. I'm only up to the 10th May so I'd better get on with it because I really do want everyone to know how much I've appreciated their kind thoughts...and some of the humour has been great. I'll sign off with a Mark Twain quote sent to me by Paul Wennagel from Esperance:
'Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.'
# posted by Jurek Leon @ 7:37 am 
