Last week there was a slight relaxation of Auckland lockdown rules so two bubbles could meet outside. 

Quite exciting after about 7 weeks of isolation and I got to catch up with my HNC friend and charity colleague Mary. We walked on Orewa Beach on the first fine day after the new step came into force. 

It was a big day for me. Friday was decision day. Patients usually go into the hospital on the Friday morning after diagnosis for a multidisciplinary meeting but under Covid the docs meet virtually, discuss each case and decide on a treatment plan. Then the patient is rung. 

I thought the surgeon would ring after lunch and was halfway along Orewa Beach when we passed a smiling, tanned woman in a bikini sitting on a blanket against the rocks – with ice plants and daisies lined up artistically  above her. She looked like a hippie guru dispensing cheer. Funnily enough we had been talking about angels!

Suddenly the phone rang but I had to locate it under the raincoat stuffed into my little bag. 

I knew it would be him, rang him back, told him I was walking on Orewa Beach to show I was down but not out. Very soon I learnt that the cancer hadn’t spread – it was limited to the area he had first seen and they thought they could remove it with clear margins without going overboard. They could do teeth removal and implants at the same time. Yippee.

But there’s always a but. They needed more information. I needed to have a little op where I would be anaesthetised and my mouth and throat investigated. I’d need a PET scan because my liver was a bit out of shape. They would probably (possibly) have to add a flap of tissue to the hole left behind after cancer removal. That could mean performing a neck dissection on my right neck to access the blood vessels needed to vascularise a flap. Bummer. This would make it almost as big a surgery as last time’s ghastly experience.

I didn’t baulk though. No spread was good. Life saving surgery was good. The dental issue being included was good. Too much in my life depended on me being alive and I trusted the surgeon and his team. I’m a tough gal

So, it sounds hopeful. In my list of four possible scenarios it wasn’t the best but it was much better than the worst.

I don’t really believe in angels but I do believe in luck.