The dreaded ‘C’ word

With so much bad news going on in the world, I didn’t expect any more.  “You have a very big lump. Not the biggest I’ve seen, but it’s big”.  

I had had a sore throat and difficulty in swallowing for some time. Trying to see a Doctor during Coronavirus is difficult, to say the least.  They don’t like looking down throats.  I finally got an appointment and was told to wait in the car and call them.

A Doctor appeared and told me to wait while he got into his Hazmat suit.  10 minutes later he appeared looking rather scary!  I was told to follow him into this very small back room.  As I have claustrophobia and he was huge, that didn’t help.

This was a new room set up and he couldn’t find much to hold my tongue down.  Eventually, he found something.  “I think you might have cancer”. I was referred to a specialist.  Coronavirus ruling our lived, he could only telephone me.

We had a good chat and he said he could not see me, as an over 70, I was more likely to die of the virus if I visited a hospital.  He wanted me to try a stomach medicine in case it was that blocking the throat.  I don’t have tummy troubles, so I was very surprised!

I asked if I could ring him if it didn’t work.  So another 2 weeks passed. We spoke again and things had eased up a bit with hospital visits, so I finally got an appointment to see him in the huge Derriford hospital.  It was very well organised.  Free car parking while the Coronavirus is on. One advantage. Temperature taken on arriving.  Social distancing on the floor etc.

He was charming.  He then took me into his examination room.  That was horrible, especially the biopsy up my nose.  He called me back in and said, you have a big cancerous lump at the back of the throat and you will need radiation.  I don’t smoke, so it was pretty unusual. The nurses were wonderful and comforting.  Especially the one in charge who told me I would have 6 weeks of radiation every day!  My head would be in a sort of helmet and tied to the bed!  It sounded like the dark ages and I dread it.  Being claustrophobic doesn’t help.

Sadly the Coronavirus delayed things badly.  I don’t want to die yet!   I was told to eat healthily, not to lose any weight as I need to be strong.

It is cathartic writing this but I really wanted to explain about the shock of it all, now that so many of us fall prey to this dreaded thing.