Benign and Boring

Last Monday we registered with the local GP practice in a nearby village.  I asked if I could make an appointment to discuss  a lump I had noticed in my neck with the doctor and they fitted me in that same day.  The GP said he didn’t think it was anything sinister, probably just a cyst on my thyroid gland, but referred me to Lincoln Hospital to get it checked.

Today, just over a week later, I was seen by the ENT Consultant at the local hospital.  I started to worry a bit when he put on some surgical gloves and the nurse passed me a tissue. 

“I don’t think I want...”  but before I could protest further he had put a camera tube down my nose and into my throat. 

“Right, I want you to have a scan and possibly a needle aspiration biopsy so we can be sure there is nothing to worry about.”
“When will that be?”
“Now, immediately!”

So Paul and I trotted down the stairs to the x-ray department and within a few minutes I was on my back in a dark room while the radiologist scanned my thyroid.  That was a painless procedure but then I saw her give a nod to the nurse and she was explaining to me that she was going to stick a needle into my neck to do the biopsy.  Just keep calm and think about Rick I told myself.

Actually it wasn’t too bad at all.  “Looks benign and boring to me,” said the radiologist. She sounded quite disappointed.

I saw the Consultant again before leaving the hospital.  He reassured me that there was probably nothing to worry about, just a thyroid nodule, but the biopsy results would confirm the diagnosis in due course. Benign and boring sounds good to me.

A lot of people criticise the NHS but the speed and efficiency that I have experienced over the past week have been exemplary.