The Royal Marsden

On the day of the diagnosis I knew one thing. I wanted a referral to the Royal Marsden - the world leading cancer hospital. The long painstaking week waiting for the results had given me time to research and I thank my kind colleague, Bernie, who made me aware of this hospital.

We chose the Sutton site for practicalities and traveled up on 24th April. I couldn't have been more unprepared. Wayne seemed to take everything in his stride and tried hard to busy himself in his book. I, on the other hand, just stared - at everything and everyone, subtly of course. Trying to guess who the sick ones were in couples, examining everyone's hair/wigs, analysing all the nurses to work out if they would be empathetic enough and trying to get a glimpse of the Drs for a little reassurance. seeing the children, the adolescents, the drips....... at one point I cracked, begging Wayne to take me back to the country and saying that coming here had been a mistake. But, he calmly and confidently reminded me why we were there...... and I went back to my staring.

What I can tell you is that the time we spent in the hospital was quite an incredible experience. The nurses couldn't have been more caring and appropriate with their care and my surgeon was everything I could have asked for - if that makes sense. We came away with so much knowledge, a library of information and again our heads where spinning. A grade 3 tumor, lumpectomy needed, lymph gland testing, chemotherapy and radiotherapy discussed. It's official, we were on the conveyor belt of cancer treatment. We were exhausted. The journey home was in silence.

So, for now, the sun is rising, the children will be waking and it will soon be time for school. I wonder............how many sunrises will I see on this journey?