My
husband Brian was to go through many a cancer operation on his face,
hands and body, this started in the 1990s on his lip and then it was his
forehead twice, the first one was a little one. I
was outside the room, when I saw the Dr. come out, he was all coved in
blood so I asked him how Brian was and he told me OK, but I had to see
Brian for myself and then Brian came walking out and said “Come on now
home we go.”
He
told me that he was put into twilight sleep and that when they went
over the parts which they had not numb, it really hurt him and he was
to go back again because they had not got it all. So one month later
Brain was called to go up to the hospital for the next operation and I
made sure that I was there, I told them that they had to put Brain out
to it and that they did not have to listen to Brian telling me about
hearing the cuts and seeing all the blood when the Dr. accidentally cut
the wrong artery. Brian saw all the blood and told me that it came out
like a hose. I told them that they were not going to put my husband
through that again.
Well
you should have heard the female Dr. who was going to ad mister the
anesthetic for Brian and told us that he did not need to be put out for a
head operation which would be much bigger than the first one, it was
three inches long and they were going to cut out deeper and longer this
time round, so four inches deep and six inches long. Brian said Mum it
will be alright, they will put me into twilight sleep and I will not
see or hear anything this time. I said, "No Brian, it will be worse
because they are going deeper and longer, so you do need to sleep
through this one.
Oh! No says I, to the Dr. you are not married to Brian, you do not know my husband,. He feels
brave now, while talking to you but when he gets home it is another
story. You are to put him to sleep, so he can not hear the cuts or see
the blood and then if you have to go deeper he will not know anything
and I think that it will be best for him to be put out with the anesthetic also because of his heart. Oh Dear, She sadly said, right we will see you next week. Brian
was so please when we left the hospital and told me I was right as he
was so scared at the first operation and this was why he did not say
much to the Dr. 
As
well as Brian going to have the cancer operation on his forehead done
he also had the cancer on his hands cut out or burnt off. It was so
hard for me to watch him go through this and all he would say was ouch! for a while and then you would see it go black, then fall off.The
second head operation went well and after a month Brian’s salivary
glands in front of his right ear came up and would not go down, he kept
going to his Dr. who would tell him not to worry, it will come down
soon. But what I saw was that it was getter bigger each week so Brian
was then sent up to the hospital for biopsies and they found that it was
cancer. Brian had another operation on the right side of his face
about two inches long and you would never believe it still did not come
down, it was bigger than it was before the operation.
Brain
was sent to Auckland hospital to see a Professor Shaw a specialist in
cancer of the head and he sent Brian in for another cat-scan which
Brian had in Auckland Hospital. When he called Brian back he told Brian
that the chance of not getting it all was 50/50 and that if he did not
get it all it could be fatal. I
said it will be okay Brian, Look at what you have been through all
these years with the other cancer operations, we will go through this
together and it will not be so hard for you.We
had being in touch with the Cancer Society who helped us so much
before and while my husband was in the Auckland Hospital I was in the
Domain lodge which was for the cancer patients and their families and
one person could stay their for free and all that I did was to pay for
food which I cooked each day. It was like a holiday with the pain of
seeing Brian each day going through the operation and his pain.
Brian was cut from the top of his right ear, down along his right face to the middle in the front of his neck. Brian
was so brave and I would stay with him most of the time because he
would stop breathing so I would give him a good poke to bring him back
which he did with a huh and go back to sleep and while I could hear him
snoring I knew he was alright.
We
were down there for a week and Brian was then to go through radiation
treatment for 20 snap as Brian says. This was all done in 2001. Since
Brian had to go down to Auckland for radiation treatment we had to go
to get Brian fitted with a head mask which will tie him tight to the
table so as he could not more and they marked the mask where they were
to work on to the side of Brian’s face.
A week later we went down to The Domain Lodge in
Auckland and we both stayed there through the full 20days which were
at 7 am each week day, so we stayed there for the weekends as well as
we saw no reason to go home and then go down again wasting money
travelling back and forth all the time. We walked over to the hospital
each day at 6/30 am to make time for Brian’s appointment at 7am and
after that Brian would sleep most of the time while I went for walks
around Auckland or get a bus for $1.00 and go sightseeing to make use
of the time I had down there.While
waiting for Brian as he went through the saps each day the room he was
in would have a little red light on the door telling us not to go
there as the Radiation was in use and it only took a few seconds to do
and the getting the mask on then strapping the mask to the table so
Brian could not move his face, took half hour and the wait was worth
it.
In
the meantime I was going through with the mediation for the 25years of
abuse to me in two catholic church orphanages,from two and half months
old to 25years of age,then we left the Auckland hospital to go to
Christchurch for the first Mediation in 2001 with the Good Shepherd
order of nuns for the first 10years of abuse in my life, while in their
care.