An operation! Saturday, 25/01/2025
Well, everything has been going very well – certainly better than expected. Last Monday morning I phoned the plastic surgeon, whose office had just reopened after its summer break. I was offered an appointment next week. I pleaded for something sooner… with the result that by late morning I was offered a consultation for Tuesday afternoon. And then, to my surprise, the surgeon declared that he could operate on me first thing on Thursday morning. Talk about rapid!
Now, Durban is a very early morning place – a lot of people get up at 5am. So it wasn’t strange to be commanded to get to the hospital at 06:15. On the dot of 08:00 I was wheeled on a bed into an operating theatre, where multiple local anaesthetic injections were made into both sides of my head. This turned out to be the worst of the whole process – but it was minor: no worse than discomforting. After a short wait for the anaesthetic to take effect, the surgeon got going. It took him about 50 minutes in all. The left side of my head needed the deepest and widest cut – the result was a large hole, say 3-4mm deep and about 3cm by 2cm. Helpfully, he took a photo of it on his phone and held it in front of me so that I could see! Then he cut flaps from my scalp and pulled them across the wound and sewed it up. A curious feeling, having someone stitching your head. All I was left with was a long red line. Quite amazing.
All seems to have passed off well. I was taken out, allowed to just lie around for a bit, then given a pot of coffee and a sandwich, and was then free to leave when I wanted to. All-in-all a very efficient procedure. For two days I have looked like a freak – see above! An incredibly long bandage was would around my head, about 6 metres in all (20 feet), the idea being to maintain moderate pressure on the wounds. I wondered if I’d be able to sleep with a head bound up like this… but I slept fine for the past two nights. This evening I removed the bandage and dressings and all seems ok.
Surprisingly, I had no more than a slight headache after the anaesthetic wore off. The surgeon had prescribed me strong painkillers to take – but in the event, they weren’t necessary at all, despite having had two deep holes cut into my head. I really am surprised by that.
Funny how something that seems so serious can be easy to go through. Perhaps I’m lucky – it seems that others often suffer more. Maybe it helped that I remained in very good spirits throughout. I certainly don’t feel sorry for myself. I feel very fortunate to have been dealt with so quickly, by both dermatologist and plastic surgeon. Obviously it helps being a private patient – and yet the cost of the whole procedure in South Africa is a fraction of what private treatment would cost in the U.K. Nice not to have needed to join a waiting list for treatment – much better to simply get it over with as soon as possible.
To be fair, South Africa is known for its high quality private medical treatment. Plus, skin cancer, in people with fair complexions, is very common here. The plastic surgeon had spent a couple of years at Oxford University Hospitals in the U.K. – well known for high quality research and teaching. It is very likely that I will have a recurrence of skin cancer – if I’m not satisfied with the treatment I get in the U.K., an obvious fallback position will simply be to jump on a plane and come back here for treatment. Nice to know that in life you have a Plan B!
I think I’ve commented before on how extraordinary a country South Africa is. Some things here are world class, and they co-exist alongside classic third world muddle, or worse. The post office has in effect collapsed (mail can take months to be delivered, while theft of items is rampant), the railways are currently starting to improve, having almost died… the list is almost endless. Looking across the country, things can look dark and depressing, but here and there are sunny spots. It would be oversimplifying to say that it is simply public sector vs. private sector, but it is true that a good part of the public sector is chaotic, run down and corruption-ridden.
On a happier note, it’s amusing how life can come full circle. I had the surgery at St Augustine’s Hospital – the hospital in which I was born almost 62 years ago. That seems to be significant, but I’m not really sure what the significance is.
Anyway, I am hopefully on the mend and will soon be able to move on. If I am that lucky, I hope that my luck holds until I get back to the U.K. in the summer. Never underestimate the importance of good luck.