Hospital Day

As I cannot drive after surgery I got a taxi to the hospital this morning. As it’s another county I ordered it to be early forgetting there the roads would be empty. As a result I was half an hour early and here at 7 am.

It’s going to be a long day I feel, so thankfully they have WiFi and I have my kindle with me.

My view is quite unremarkable though.

Busted Nose

When I was 17 I had my face smashed in as I was attacked by a thug, for want of a better word. He came up behind me spun me around and punched me with the heal of his hand, smashing my nose and breaking other bones in my face and fracturing my eye socket along with other injuries to the face. It turned out that it was mistaken identity, he was sorry, but the police were there and he was handed over to them, but he also got a good slapping from one of my neighbours who was a tough lad and thought the thug needed it, which I agree.

Now 33 years later I am still having problems with my face. I have had many operations to fix, rebuild and correct problems, but like the Martians in the musical War of the Worlds, but still, they come. My latest problem started three weeks ago with a severe nose bleed. Now, I get nose bleeds all the time due to the damaged anatomy of my face and I never think too much about it. However, this one was different insomuch as when it finished my nose whistled. Comical indeed, but after some time it became weary and yes, bloody annoying, yes pun intended. This now adds to the problem I have with my sinuses because nothing is really right, or in the right place. My septum has deviated, and even though the tube on the right side was replaced, it is still not easy to breathe out of my nose.

Yesterday I went to the doctors to see if my septum was perforated which is a common reason for whistling noses. He had a good look with the basic equipment available at the surgery, and could not give a definitive answer apart from telling me the anatomy was all a little messed up and the maxillofacial team would need to take a look with all their cameras to decide what to do next. He could not find much information about the previous operations apart from me being admitted to the plastics unit at one of the top hospitals. I explained all that had happened and what operations I had had along with my last operation in 2005 when my tonsils, adenoids and uvular were removed and I had laser surgery on the back of my throat. Do I snore? he asked and yes I do, quite bad these days because I cannot breathe through my nose. He thought that maybe the back of the chambers had collapsed hence little airflow and could also be the reason for the whistling.

Due to COVID, the wait for a hospital appointment could be some time, so who knows when that will happen, so until then I will have to be part of a squeaky toy or take up the nickname of Wheezy from Toy Story. I must point out I had no idea who Wheezy was until a colleague told me.

Hospital Visit…

A few weeks ago I had two “growths” removed, one from my face under my right eye and one on my chest. I had had them for a little bit and noticed that the one on my face was getting bigger. It was not bit at all, and most people did not notice it, but I did and that was all that mattered. The one on my chest was a funny brown colour and not like a regular mole. One of the GP’s at my surgery (not my regular GP) does minor surgery so I booked an appointment with him and off they came, but I have a lump on the right side of my face about 2/3cm from my right eye that he could not do as it was not a surface lump like the other two, but deep into the skin. The GP told me he would get me an appointment to see a specialist. Just over a week later I was booked into the private hospital to see a consultant in Maxillofacial surgery.

The hospital is only a 10-minute drive (very convenient) and is in the middle of several farmsteads, surrounded by trees turning gold in the autumn sun, and many many pear trees shedding their fruit. The hospital itself is state of the art and appointments always run on time which is a nice change from the overrun NHS hospitals. After being booked in and completing registration paperwork I saw Mr B. He examined the lump quite extensively and quickly diagnosed it as skin cancer, namely basal lymphoma/b-cell lymphoma. He assured me that it was nothing to worry about and he would perform surgery and remove it and I would be left with a few stitches where it was cut out, but as he is also a plastic surgeon the scaring would be minimal. The only thing that I was disappointed about was the scaring, as I do love a good facial scar, also I am a sun whore, but I guess factor 30 or 50 from now on.

I have had many operations in my life and have had 16 (over 8 years) just to rebuild my face including plastic surgery after having it smashed in when I was 17. Yes I picked to look this way ha ha.

I am just awaiting my appointment to go in to have the surgery now, which should be just over a week away.