Matt's Cancer

30/06/2020 - Removal Of Tumours

Page 7

Today is the day of the operation to remove the tumours. Mum & Dad took me to Burton hospital, I’m expecting to be in hospital for 2-3 days. I’m terrified.
I was shown to a private room, with an ensuite. I’m not sure if this was due to coronavirus, or if that’s all that was available at the time, either way it felt more like a hotel then a hospital, in a good way. This is the room they would bring me back to after my operation.
Dr Moole and my consultant Miss J Shah meet me in my room, Dr Moole explains the operation and tells me all the things that could go wrong, during and after the operation, as this is a legal requirement. As if I’m not terrified enough, this made me even more worried. But all these things that could go wrong, don't happen often.
One of the things Dr Moole told me was, they could damage my bladder, but this would be most unlikely.
I then signed the consent form for my operation, Dr Moole & Miss Shah left the room.

My anaesthetist introduced himself, if my memory serves me correctly, I think his name was Dr Ford. He chatted to me and asked if I wanted a spinal block, which meant I would be awake during the operation, or if I would prefer to be put to sleep. I told him I would much rather be put to sleep, as it would freak me out.
Dr Ford left after chatting and making me feel more at ease.
I got undressed, put on the gown, I also had to put on some tight fitting socks they gave me, a bit like stockings, the colour matched my dressing gown.
These socks are to prevent blood clots in my legs.

I layed on the bed, the nurses wheeled me into the theatre.
Now I was shaking with fear, the nurse thought I was shivering, so she gave me a blanket, and asked if I was cold, I told her I wasn’t cold, just terrified, she tried to assure me I was going to be ok.
I was asked if I was able to get myself on the operation bed, they wanted to know if I needed assistance. I told them I was able to get on this bed.
After getting myself on this bed, they wheeled my other bed out the way.

Dr Ford, my anaesthetist came and sat next to me, he was telling me he was giving me a premed, to help relax me. I looked away as he put the cannula in, I’m not fond of needles. I'm thinking any minute now, he’s going to ask me to count down from 10, then it’ll be light’s out as I drift off, I’m thinking what if I find myself fighting against it, will I really be out cold? Dr Ford could see how terrified I was, he just sat there chatting to me, that’s all I remember.
At first I felt I was a little rude, one minute I was having a conversation with Dr Ford, the next, I was out cold. Later I realised, Dr Ford just wanted me to relax, rather than count down and worry about what’s going to happen next.

The next thing I remember, my eyes slowly opening, for the first few seconds everything is out of focus, now I can see, there’s a face looking right at me, a voice asking if I’m ok. I say something like “I’m ok”, I can't really remember what I said. I look around, I’m in another room, this is the recovery room and I’m back in my hospital bed. The staff were making sure I came round from the general anaesthetic without any issues. They wheeled me back to my room.

A nurse checks my blood pressure. I have a dry throat, not sore, just dry, I go to have a drink, then realise I’m wearing an oxygen mask, this was because my sats dropped. So I take my oxygen mask off to drink.
A nurse checks my blood pressure and sats every hour, she also checks my temperature. The next time a nurse comes to check on me, she asks me to wear my oxygen mask, so my sats are better.

Another hour passes, a nurse comes to check on me again, I’m not wearing my oxygen mask as I’ve had another drink, my sats are low, the nurse asks me to take a deep breath in through my nose, then breath out through my mouth, a few times, I did just that, my sats come back up.
I now just leave my oxygen mask off, I’m feeling fine. For the next few times, I take a few deep breaths while the nurse checks on me, they are happy with the results.

I’m fitted with a catheter, Dr Moole had already explained this would be fitted during surgery, but would be removed before I go home, I couldn’t look under the covers, just the thought of it freaks me out.
It’s now early evening, I’m thinking, I should be up on my feet soon. I ask a nurse, should I walk about only in my room, or am I allowed out of my room as long as I stay on this ward. The nurse tells me I’m not going to be able to walk carrying my drip bags, as they are too heavy. I look up, there’s two large drip bags, each containing three litres of a clear liquid, that was flushing out my bladder. After the first bag was empty, the nurse put a third bag on, so in total, there were nine litres of this liquid, this would be flushing out my bladder through the day.

My consultant Mis Shah comes in with a needle, oh great another needle I think, I tell Mis Shah I don’t like needles much. She tells me it’s to prevent blood clots, this goes in my stomach, I didn’t feel it, I told Miss Shah I didn’t feel it, she said, “it’s going to sting in a bit, now I run” Then off she trotted. I lay there thinking it was going to sting like she said, but it didn’t.

The next morning, a nurse comes into my room, she tells me she’s going to remove my catheter. The nurse tells me she’ll try not to hurt me, she tells me it will feel like I’m about to pee, but not to worry as I won’t actually pee.
It was uncomfortable and hurt as it was removed, the nurse apologised. Now my penis was really sore, I looked down, I had no stitches, not even a cut, so you can imagine what my poor penis had been through. No wonder why it was sore.

After breakfast, I decided to have a shave, wash and get dressed.
Miss Shah and a nurse came into my room. Miss Shah told me the operation was a success, they removed the tumours, which had now been sent away for testing.
Miss Shah told me she thinks it is cancer, depending on what they find, I may need further treatment, maybe radiotherapy, or even having my bladder removed. This shocked me, I told Miss Shah I’d rather not have my bladder removed. Miss Shah told me I might not have a choice, she also said she might be wrong, it might be nothing. I remember looking at her and thinking to myself, you seem to know what you're talking about, I don’t think you're often wrong.
I asked the question, how big were the tumours?
I’m told they were approx 3cm.
So now I’m thinking that, something or nothing, sounds like a serious thing. And I now have the prospect of losing my bladder. At this stage, I don’t want to tell anyone, I only want to tell my family.

I’m told I’m allowed home today, as long as I meet a certain criteria, they measured how much I weed and what colour it was. I drank plenty of water, so that was ok. The other thing they wanted to do was to scan my bladder with an ultrasound, like they do with pregnant women. The reason for this is to see if I was emptying my bladder, or retaining wee. Miss Shah told me, if I wasn’t emptying my bladder, they would fit me with another catheter before going home, so I would have this on while at home. The thought of that terrified me, I was still in pain down below, I don’t think I could stomach them fitting me with another catheter.

The nurse came in with her machine, I told her I’m going to try and go for a wee first, which I did, but I did have a lot to drink. The nurse scanned my bladder, the results were fine, they were happy, I was even more happier.
I’ve met the criteria, I’m allowed home, just have to wait for my discharge and medicines to take home. This is still the next day, I only had my operation the day before, but I’m ok with that and looking forward to going home.

I call Mum & Dad, to tell them I’m ready to come home, they come to pick me up. I ask a nurse if I’m allowed to carry my bag, it’s a bit heavy as it has all my things in it. The nurse tells me she’ll get a porter to carry my bag for me.
A porter arrived with a wheelchair, I told him I can walk, I just wasn’t sure if I should carry my bag, he said it’s ok and to enjoy the ride, he wheeled all the way to my parents car. Mum met us inside the hospital in a corridor, she took my bag from the porter and carried it. I felt really guilty as I was in the wheelchair and Mum was carrying my bag. Mum & Dad took me home.