5:50am and my Monday morning alarm starts to ring. I hit the snooze button for 10 minutes as I do every morning. 6am the alarm sounds again and up I get.
The first thing I do, straight to the mirror in the hope the lump has subsided. May be it was just a reaction to the spa treatments? The lump was still there, no matter which way I moved my neck, this hard egg shaped lump stayed put. In the shower I got, contemplating what I should do. Get ready and head off to work or get back in to bed and wait for the doctors to open at 8am?
With the advice of my wife I chose the later. Something in my head was telling me and her this lump wasn’t right.
8am arrived and I called the doctor, having described the lump to the receptionist, I was told it was likely to be ‘just a boil’ and to see how it was in a couple of weeks time. Normally I would listen to the advice but again something in my head told me to ‘speak up’. Reluctantly the receptionist booked me an appointment for 11am that day.
In I walked to the doctors, nervous and apprehensive about what the lump could be and what I’d be told in the looming appointment. After a few minutes wait my name was shown on the screen, this is it, in I walked to the doctors office.
The appointment started like any other, “What can I help you with today James?” I pointed to the lump on my neck and told him how it had just appeared.
The doctor moved closer and reached out to feel the lump. His tone of voice changed within an instant. Without hesitation, he said he would be referring me to the Head, Neck and throat specialist at the hospital and would be doing so as an ‘urgent’ appointment.
My initial reaction was ‘numb’. Neither relief nor fright just numb. I could hear in the doctors voice he was troubled by the lump, but surely this was just a precautionary referral right?
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