Hospital Appointments

16th March. A letter came through the post from the Hospital giving an appointment for 26th April. No need to worry, if they thought it was a nasty, it would have been a bit quicker. I could feel a lump with my tongue, but couldn't see it, it felt about the size of a small pea.
Hospital phoned just before 26th to cancel the appointment and re-arrange for 10th May. No worries, probably just a cyst, after all, I had had 2 fairly hefty falls earlier in the year- a 400 metre skiing slide ( minus skis, which came off at the top of the hill ) and a little accident with one of my cars when I trapped my head between the car door and the garage ( dont ask )

10th May, appointment to see Oral and Maxillofacial locum surgeon. A very nice chap who decided that I should have a biopsy to see what was the best treatment, but he felt it was probably a cyst - no worries.
Had a standing up Xray of my jaw.


28th June, appointment arranged for biopsy. Cancelled by telephone on the 24th as "the surgeon was off work all that week". Re-arranged for 22nd July. I was starting to get a bit jittery by now, there were getting to be too many cancellations, so I sent a recorded delivery letter confirming that the hospital had cancelled that appointment and that I would attend on the 22nd of July.

22nd July, not really sure what to expect, it hadn't grown much, thought that someone would have a look in my mouth and then tell me what they intended to do. BIG MISTAKE. I was taken into a room, the same room which I had had my appointment in May, to be greeted by two very pleasant gentlemen of eastern extraction who both had some difficulty in the use of the English language. With the aid of the nurse, I found out that they intended to give me a couple of injections to numb the mouth then take out some samples, so I signed the form , laid back and thought of England. Now, I hate injections, I've always avoided them whenever possible, but I have had the odd filling at the dentist, so I knew what to expect. What I didn't expect was the skin under my lower teeth being sliced open, a needle being pushed through my jaw from front to back, with some muffled comments from the docs , who were charming throughout the procedure, finishing with the stitching up of the skin with half a dozen stitches of the type I learned at cubs, decades ago.
It was when I felt the thread on my lips that I felt queasy and had to stop for a while. That was sore for a long time and the stitches took weeks to drop out. By now, I was starting to get a bit more concerned, the reaction of the two docs was interesting.