Progress and problems

As these blog posts are intended for anyone facing a glansectomy I felt it appropriate to show an image of the area of my leg from where the skin graft was taken. This was taken, at home, on the 17th May - my operation was on 1st. Thus I no longer had need of dressings, and healing was going well. The size of this is 4.5 cm x 9cm.

As I write on 28th May I have to say that I need to conatct the hospital tomorrow as the actual graft, which replaced my glans, has not been 100% successful. (My actual follow-up appointment is not for two weeks) I could see patches of darkened flesh when I left hospital and these eventually shrivelled up and peeled away. Underneath is a area covered with a yellow 'pus' like substance; it is not bleeding. I can see where the edge of the graft has taken but I do not think the flesh will grow back where it has come away. I am talking of an area the size of a 5p piece.

This is all rather annoying but was always possible. I just hope they don't have to repeat the whole operation. I will let you know.

Glansectomy Update

I had my operation on 1st May. I arrived at 0715 an heard I was on first. At 0905 I was wheeled down to theatre and by 0920 I was out of it. I came round at 1315 in recovery to be told that the operation had lasted 2 and a half hours: I had absorbed quite a lot of anaesthetic (I discovered) which was why I was so tired for several days, but I was certainly not 'zonked' as used to be the case 25 years ago if I was put out. It turns out that they had had a tea break in the middle of the operation because somebody had not turned up to do the frozen section and needed to get in a taxi to get from the Leicester Royal Infirmary to the General Hospital.

I was on bed rest for 24 hours after which I could get about a little but was not anxious to go very far. This improved. I was in not pain at all from the operation itself. The skin graft donor site has been sore until now, on an doff, but this is normal and healing had gone well.

I was allowed home on Friday 4th and I took things gently. The catheter was removed in Friday 11th for which I drove myself to Leicester. I have been for some short walks down to the shops but I am not ready to go back to work; luckily I am signed off until 28th.

For anyone facing a glansectomy I hope all this has been reassuring. I keep saying "so far, so good" as I have not had the histology results yet. I suppose I feel oddly 'lucky' to have had surgery in the same area before. Possibly going from normality to the lack of a glans might be a sudden bodily change needing more adjustment.

It is amazing how the body heals and how the surgeon can repair things which have gone wrong. I am looking forward to getting on with my life - once I have had a bath!

(Not checked for typos)

MRI scan done

So, I had the required MRI scan today. I arrived at 10.10 and booked in. I was told my scan was at 10.40 (probably because I had to have an injection first) but they were running half an hour late. Anyway I changed and was shown to a chair in a drafty corridor. Having said that, the last time I had an MRI it was out in a 'mobile' facility in the car park and the changing arrangement were poor to say the least.

I waited ages and then the staff realised they had better offer me some explanation; I kept calm as it was not their fault. Then they suggested I come back another day as they were unable to get hold of a doctor to give me the injection. I pointed out that the scan was vital for my surgery on Tuesday 1st May.

I waited some more and a guy came to do the honours. I waited 10-15 minutes for the jab to take effect then went through and had the scan which seemed to last a long time. It was quite comfortable in the machine so I think I dozed off! I didn't have any headphone music on (I was asked) but was alone with my thoughts so I went through a course of Beverley in my head. After that I tried to pick out the harmonics in the loud buzzing sound from the machine.

I drove back to school, ate a sandwich I had bought on the way and had a normal afternoon.

MRI

I have an MRI scan tomorrow. I have had to phone the hospital three times to get the appointment. This is bizarre because I was told the surgery I am to have depended upon this scan. You'd think they would send out the time and date sooner.

Cancer Diagnosis

I have had a skin condition all my life (BXO) and have occasionally been warned that it can turn sinister.

Over the years I have had a lot of surgery to enable me to pass water efficiently and to remove 'unhappy' tissue. In the last couple of years I have had the following surgery:

• Initial Biopsy, revealing non-invasive cancerous node.
• Excision of cancer boundary.
• Dynamic sentinel lymph node biopsy (resulting in an infection which put me in hospital for 4 days followed by 2 weeks on injected anti-biotics)

Since then I have been under review and seeing a dermatologist as well as a urologist. Things have recently taken a turn for the worse and a further biopsy of a lump has been diagnosed (last Thursday) as G2 cancer.

I now face a glansectomy so I propose to put a few updates on here in case anyone stumbles across this blog.

Please note it is well after midday on April 1st - this is not a joke. In fact tomorrow (2nd) would be my 35th wedding anniversary. Now that I am separated I face this surgery more or less alone apart from friends who are supporting me.

I will be 60 towards the end of this year. My target is to reach 74, the age at which my father died; I shall then feel not too hard done by!

Organist seeks occasional work

The summer holidays are coming and I have a few spare Sundays; I also need a holiday away from home. I would be more than willing to deputise for an organist who needs to get away (especially if there was a fee!). I am happy to travel about 80 miles from home.

I have looked on the Church Times website and found 1 engagement. I assumed, as they were advertising for an organist, that they did not have one; I was right.

But there are not many adverts in the Church Times. There are also not many on the RSCM website. I suppose there could be more in the print editions of these publications, but why?

The Church of England cannot be that blessed with deputy organists, so why can I not find anywhere that might use my services? The site Organists Online is useful and ought to be more widely known.

The hunt continues.

Tidy Up

My regular visitor to this blog will notice that I have removed all but a few posts.

I have decided that, even though I am unhappy at present, there is no point blogging about it.

Life is what it is.