SHOULDER DISLOCATION DAMAGE: On Wednesday, March 20th, I had 'Nerve Conductive Tests' carried out at Airedale Hospital on the damaged areas of my shoulder that my recent operation to replace was only partially successful (leaving me with approximately 50% of normal movement and dexterity. The tests showed better results than were initially expected by the Bone Consultant, who had previously indicated to me that the shoulder had been irreparably damaged and he feared, could not be improved upon according to the recent x-rays. The 'Nerve Conductivity Tests' revealed there to be some presence of nerve conductivity; not enough to suggest that a possible shoulder replacement would ever be a viable possibility in the future, but 'sufficient' to indicate with time and lots of continued daily exercise of the damaged arm, that more gradual improvement in range and extent of movement can occur over the next 18 months.
RECTAL WARTS AND ANAL BIOPSY RESULTS: Following the operation on my bottom a month ago and the removal of half of the present rectal warts for biopsy examination, I returned to see the Consultant at 'Airedale Hospital'on Thursday, March 21st. The consultant informed me that the biopsy revealed the warts to be 'pre-cancerous'; thereby necessitating the need to have all the remaining warts removed under a general anaesthetic operation, like the one I had last month, and half my bottom stitched closed again. Because my bottom hasn't fully healed from my previous operation on it yet, I cannot have the other essential operation for another two months or the pain after it would simply be unbearable and the proximity of both rectal operations would severely hinder full recovery. Another biopsy will be taken when the remaining warts are removed as an essential preventative measure and I will be monitored frequently for any return of cancerous signs over the years ahead. Overall, the mere fact 'that cancer is a possibility today' in my bottom instead of 'being a probability after my next operation' represents better news than initially feared. It looks like 'I will have a pain in the ass' over the whole of 1919, but that is a small price to pay if 'it stops me being a pain in the ass' during the remainder of the year!
FOREHEAD OPERATION FOLLOW UP OF HIGH-GRADE SKIN CANCER: On March 22nd, I returned to Leeds Infirmary where I had the stitches taken out of my head wound and skin graft area (performed under a general anaesthetic operation lasting almost two hours, six days earlier). The wound is in the process of healing nicely but will take months before my facial features are good enough to put on public display without frightening the horses and children. The Consultant spoke with me and indicated that she was 'quietly confident' that she had managed to excavate all the visible present cancer down to the bone. She said that she had removed an amount of cancerous tissue matter that was like a deadly iceberg and was the size of a larger than normal golf ball. She indicated that she wouldn't have the biopsy results back for another three weeks. These biopsy results will reveal if I require a number of courses of Radiotherapy over the spring and summer period, which she feels is highly probable. The consultant managed to operate on me without the need to sever the nerve that controls my eyebrow movements. However, the degree of cancer matter removed has left me with a 'Chinese eye' that will probably improve with time and a 4-inch gully/depression from forehead to below my eye (imagine a face whose forehead had been forcefully struck with an axe, years after the original wound has healed). That is how I presently look.
MY PRESENT MOOD AND FEELINGS: The past three days have probably been the most anxious and momentous that I have experienced since my terrible car accident left me fighting for life and unable to walk for three years when I was aged 11. It involved internalising mixed news and emotions that turned out to be 'far better than my worse fears' and 'no more than a person combatting three different types of cancer (one of them terminal but in temporary remission) and the other two (still to be fended off in the future) can reasonably expect.
My entire experience of the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week can be best summed up in a song that the rock group 'Guns and Roses' sang, 'Sweet Child of Mine'.The mixed news I have received from various hospital consultants at three different hospitals have reminded me of the gun battles to come, along with the sweet roses to be smelled during all the good days of my life still remaining.
All of my life, I have felt blessed. I have also felt myself to be a 'Child of God', a 'Child of Mother Earth and Nature' and the oldest 'Child of my dear birth Mother'.
I am more than content with the overall news of the past three days pertaining to my recent operations, plus any operations and Radiotherapy treatment still to come. And like the closing words of the song 'Sweet Child of Mine', I frequently find myself asking my Maker 'Where do we go now?'
Love and peace Bill xxx
RECTAL WARTS AND ANAL BIOPSY RESULTS: Following the operation on my bottom a month ago and the removal of half of the present rectal warts for biopsy examination, I returned to see the Consultant at 'Airedale Hospital'on Thursday, March 21st. The consultant informed me that the biopsy revealed the warts to be 'pre-cancerous'; thereby necessitating the need to have all the remaining warts removed under a general anaesthetic operation, like the one I had last month, and half my bottom stitched closed again. Because my bottom hasn't fully healed from my previous operation on it yet, I cannot have the other essential operation for another two months or the pain after it would simply be unbearable and the proximity of both rectal operations would severely hinder full recovery. Another biopsy will be taken when the remaining warts are removed as an essential preventative measure and I will be monitored frequently for any return of cancerous signs over the years ahead. Overall, the mere fact 'that cancer is a possibility today' in my bottom instead of 'being a probability after my next operation' represents better news than initially feared. It looks like 'I will have a pain in the ass' over the whole of 1919, but that is a small price to pay if 'it stops me being a pain in the ass' during the remainder of the year!
FOREHEAD OPERATION FOLLOW UP OF HIGH-GRADE SKIN CANCER: On March 22nd, I returned to Leeds Infirmary where I had the stitches taken out of my head wound and skin graft area (performed under a general anaesthetic operation lasting almost two hours, six days earlier). The wound is in the process of healing nicely but will take months before my facial features are good enough to put on public display without frightening the horses and children. The Consultant spoke with me and indicated that she was 'quietly confident' that she had managed to excavate all the visible present cancer down to the bone. She said that she had removed an amount of cancerous tissue matter that was like a deadly iceberg and was the size of a larger than normal golf ball. She indicated that she wouldn't have the biopsy results back for another three weeks. These biopsy results will reveal if I require a number of courses of Radiotherapy over the spring and summer period, which she feels is highly probable. The consultant managed to operate on me without the need to sever the nerve that controls my eyebrow movements. However, the degree of cancer matter removed has left me with a 'Chinese eye' that will probably improve with time and a 4-inch gully/depression from forehead to below my eye (imagine a face whose forehead had been forcefully struck with an axe, years after the original wound has healed). That is how I presently look.
MY PRESENT MOOD AND FEELINGS: The past three days have probably been the most anxious and momentous that I have experienced since my terrible car accident left me fighting for life and unable to walk for three years when I was aged 11. It involved internalising mixed news and emotions that turned out to be 'far better than my worse fears' and 'no more than a person combatting three different types of cancer (one of them terminal but in temporary remission) and the other two (still to be fended off in the future) can reasonably expect.
My entire experience of the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week can be best summed up in a song that the rock group 'Guns and Roses' sang, 'Sweet Child of Mine'.The mixed news I have received from various hospital consultants at three different hospitals have reminded me of the gun battles to come, along with the sweet roses to be smelled during all the good days of my life still remaining.
All of my life, I have felt blessed. I have also felt myself to be a 'Child of God', a 'Child of Mother Earth and Nature' and the oldest 'Child of my dear birth Mother'.
I am more than content with the overall news of the past three days pertaining to my recent operations, plus any operations and Radiotherapy treatment still to come. And like the closing words of the song 'Sweet Child of Mine', I frequently find myself asking my Maker 'Where do we go now?'
Love and peace Bill xxx
