Post 4: The Biopsy

So, I needed to have a #biopsy on my lump to determine the cancer type exactly.

To say that I went into this next phase a little blind would be... an understatement. Looking back, I went in there with my head in the clouds.

No, I didn’t read up on what was going to happen and nor did I ask too many questions.

My thought process was that they were just going to dig a little bit of it out, and my flippancy ultimately masked my naivety.

We had to get to the hospital in Birmingham for a 7am start, which is exactly when Claire was asked to leave as the waiting room was that full.

Four hours later, I was up. It was my turn!

So, there I was. Stripped down to my boxers, wearing rather fetching medical gown, laying flat on a hospital bed, probably for the first time since I crashed my motorbike, aged 8.

Nurses, doctors and many other medical professionals were buzzing about, all checking in on me, and I was soon whisked-away up in the lift to the operating room.

I’ve never like having needles in me (injections, giving-blood, etc) without me watching, so I knew I needed to watch this process, or my imagination would make it ‘worse’.

They prepped me up and soon began numbing the area with, and despite being the smallest needle ever, actually felt like a broom handle being rummaged-around on my chest because of the anaesthetic. It soon went numb, but this is where the fun began.

As I had signed for the ’whole genome sequencing’ trial, they needed 6x 'apple-cores' of my lump.

Each one pierced the lump, moving me physically as it bored downward, culminating in a stapler-like click as the core was removed. Then, start over.

At this point, I could only stare at the ceiling - the location of the lump being on the top of my chest meant I couldn’t see without craning my neck and affecting the surgeon’s work.

So, I laid there and totally over-imagined the process, but hoping that each core was the last.

Eventually, he stopped.

Plasters and micropore were then strapped across my chest, and I told to make sure that I take paracetamol and ibuprofen for the coming pain.

Had I known that I was to get this all on Insta, I would have asked for a photo or two. (Sorry.)