So looking back, what’s your view of the whole national screening programme?

HusbandWell I think it’s wonderful. It’s a wonderful thing for, it must be saving the country a lot of money really. In a way. Although its costing a bit, but the outcome of it is that you’re saving the country money, because if people develop bowel cancer, the after care is going to cost more than what the operation would itself.

And can you say again what your surgeon said that if you hadnt been screened, what would have happened?

HusbandWell the surgeon told me bluntly that if I hadnt been screened, that in another six to twelve months down the line, it would have been into the rest of my body and the outcome of that wouldve been very bad.

So for you it was a good thing you went ahead and were screened.

HusbandYes, wonderful really. I’ve got no complaints about it whatsoever. It’s probably one of the best things that has happened to me really.

To go back to the treatment. You said you had to have a little bit of chemotherapy just to make sure

HusbandChemotherapy yes.

that theyd picked up everything. How long did you, when did you start that, after the operation? How many weeks?

WifeAbout six months it was. No it wasnt as long as that. It was after we came back off our summer holidays, so it would be about July or August.

HusbandRight, July or August.

WifeOf 2001.

HusbandOf 2001.

So what month was the operation?

WifeApril.

HusbandApril.

April.

WifeSt. Georges Day.

Okay, so it was just a few months later you started with chemotherapy?

HusbandThat’s right yes.

Do you mind saying a bit more about the chemotherapy?

HusbandThe chemotherapy, it’s straightforward. They put a, a shunt in the back of your hand, just like a saline drip they put into you, but obviously its not a saline, its some special fluid they, and it runs into the back of your hand for about fifteen to twenty minutes. A small bag. And that’s all there is to it really.

Did you go as a day patient?

HusbandA day patient yes. I hada half past nine slot on every Friday or something like that.

Every Friday?

HusbandWas it Friday?

Or once a week?

HusbandOnce a week, yeah. Once a week for thirty weeks.

To go back again to the chemotherapy. Did you have any side effects of the chemotherapy?

HusbandIt felt, you were a bit queasy with it, for two or three days, and I was a little bit sick for aboutthree times after it. Other than that I Don’t see any problems whatsoever.

HusbandThe preparation for the colonoscopy came in the post. It comes in the form of two or three packages, which you have to take over a period of time. And, the first part of it isnt too bad. But the second part, the Picolax, I mean you’re never clear of the loo. And sometimes it can affect you on both ends, you can be sick with it as well. Actually, I think that was the worst part of the whole thing, it was taking this Picolax and cleaning yourself out. It’s even worse than the operation. The first time round it was.

Were you sick?

HusbandOh I was sick with it yes.

Oh dear.

HusbandBecause, I think, they say you can, the Picolax you can flavour it with orange or something like that to take the, which I did, and I think maybe that was the wrong thing. you’re better off just taking it as it is.

WifeMade with water.

HusbandWith the water.

What does it taste like?

HusbandIt’s unbelievable really, no, it’s not nice, I cant explain it really, youll have to taste it yourself to think what it tastes like. It’s nothing like I’ve ever had before.

It made you feel, it made you sick?

HusbandOh it made me sick and I was never clear of the loo. Towards the latter stages of it, when you’re more or less empty, you have to be really adjacent to the loo, else you can make a mistake. You cant get there quick enough.

It must have been difficult.

HusbandOh it is, it is quite difficult. I mean that’s probably one of the worst parts about it, and even since I’ve had another colonoscopy since, it’s not the best of things to do. But I mean it’s a case of having to clear the bowel completely out, so they can see what’s, when they get that camera going to see where they are going.

And did you have to have an enema too?

HusbandNo.

No enema?

HusbandNo. This Picolax does the job.

HusbandIt clears everything, it just.

Alright.

HusbandI Don’t deny it, I wouldn’t say it’s like pebble dashing the wall, but it’s similar.

Did he [the surgeon] give you plenty of information at that stage about what was going to happen?

He did tell us that the outcome of the operation, he said youll have so much of the bowel removed, and it’s a possibility youll have to end up with a stoma bag for a few months. Which he said, They pull a bit of the small intestine out, and connect it to the bag, which is on a belt around you. And then he said, After the bowel has calmed down, they will reverse that,…which you know, after the operation I had, I didnt have a stoma. So I was quite happy about that really, it didnt work out that way for me.