2 April 2019.

We're off to see the Wizard...

OK kids, I've been diagnosed with cancer at the base of the tongue in my throat. Not a good thing, but every medico I've spoken to has been extremely positive and told me it is totally curable with treatment.

I'm not shopping for sympathy, but I'm not much of a talker about private stuff (much to Suzanne's dismay) so I'm writing this the keep family and friends up to date, and save you all a bunch of phone calls and emails. Maybe this will also help out someone who might go through the same thing somewhere down the track. It's always good to get the story from the horse's mouth, even if his tongue is a bit munted. 😃

We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Radiotherapy.

Breezed through Radiotherapy today, the it was an appointment with Prof Sidney. This was an appointment I was dreading.

The Prof wasn't happy with the weight I'd lost (I hadn't eaten anything all weekend) and said it was time to act. I know what that meant, I'd bought my case of clothes etc ready to be admitted.

A quick blood test and cannula insertion, and I was sat in a corner to await admission for a gastric tube. That's a tube that goes up my nose, and down into my stomach. The next step will be a PEG, which is a tube stuck straight into my stomach, through the skin, from the outside.

They need an anaesthetist in attendance for this just in case something goes awry. WHAT? If my weight loss doesn't stop, then the PEG goes in. Simple. What is not so simple is that the PEG has to stay in for three months. Sigh.

Hurry up and wait.

Wait faster.

At about 5:30 they found me a bed and I tucked in by the nurses by 6:00.

Let the fun begin.