I had the operation and I was in a lot of pain after the operation because they actually did quite a severe – you know – procedure like and it took – looking back it didn’t seem to take as long but the pain kept with me for quite a bit like. And then on top of that I had to go back and they did a skin graft. Took it from my thigh and put it on to the penis to make it look a bit normal, and after the initial procedure life got back to more or less what it normally is. Keep going for the scans and every scan you got and it was clear, it was like oh, I’ve scored a goal, I’m past that part there.

Keep going for the scans and every scan you got and it was clear, it was like oh, I’ve scored a goal, I’m past that part there.

And eventually I got to18 months and my consultant said, You’re doing very goo he says usually if we don’t get any more reoccurrences at the 18 month period So the next scan after that imagine my surprise when he turned round and said, it’s come back Well I was shattered. And I turned round and I telled the wife and I says I don’t know what’s going to happen this tim I says it’s come back and I don’t know where it’s come back

The consultant did say it was at the lymph nodes in my groin and he told me the left hand side was full of cancer, but the right hand side was clear. But he would do a procedure where he removed the lymph nodes on either side because eventually it would travel to the other side. Well that was the worst time I’ve ever had in hospital that, after that procedure. It just would not heal and I was in hospital quite a long time, more normally than what other people were in and it finished up that the consultant had to do another procedure. Because it wasn’t healing he had to what you call debride where he was… had done it, because all it kept doing was leaking and leaking and leaking and it was very upsetting.

I was told I would be visited by the nurses, home help, nurses and things like that and they would look after me but they didn’t and the swelling in the groin grew bigger and bigger. Back to the hospital to see the consultant on an appointment and when he seen me he was really surprised and upset at the state of my groin. He said, Whoever’s let it get into this stat he said it’s terribl and he proceeded then to drain my groin and he took litres of the lymph out of it and that caused the wound to reopen in the groin and that’s when I had another four or five weeks in hospital just waiting for it to cure again, but since then I’ve come out really well and the only thing I’m left with is like – I know you can’t see it on camera but one leg that won’t go back to its normality like this leg did and my groin is permanently swollen like a football and it’s very uncomfortable at nights and up to now we haven’t found a way round this problem and until we do like I’ve just got to carry on doing what it is they’ve told me to do and that’s about it really.

Well as I say like I started with a small itch in the penis and each night it got gradually worse so I thought I’d better go and see a doctor about it and they treated it with Canesten cream. But after a period of a matter of a few weeks it didn’t subside any, and in fact it got really worse and eventually it was little white spots that was on the end of the penis so the doctor then told me I would have to go and see a specialist.

After the initial procedure life got back to more or less what it normally is. Keep going for the scans and every scan you got and it was clear, it was like oh, I’ve scored a goal, I’m past that part there.

And eventually I got to 18 months and my consultant said, You’re doing very goo he says, Usually if we don’t get any more reoccurrences at the eighteen month period So the next scan after that imagine my surprise when he turned round and said, it’s come back Well I was shattered. And I turned round and I telled the wife and I says, I don’t know what’s going to happen this time I says, it’s come back and I don’t know where it’s come back And while the docthe consultant did say it was at the lymph nodes in my groin and he told me the left hand side was full of cancer, but the right hand side was clear. But he would do a procedure where he removed the lymph nodes on either side because eventually it would travel to the other side.

This carried on for a matter of six, six weeks and I finished up he says he would take a sample of the skin of the penis like and he’d let me know what it was. Well when I was told to go back and see him, the day, he says before I tell you he says I want you to understand that, something he says that it’s not life threatening. I says well before you tell me, you saying that, I think you’re going to tell me I’ve got cancer. And he said yes he says but if I had to choose which cancer I wanted it would be something like this. So I know I went white because I could feel the colour draining from my face as soon as that word was mentioned like and I said to myself right, there’s only one thing to do now and that’s get on with it and see what happens. So he recommended me to a consultant.

So what were your immediate thoughts when you were first given that diagnosis?

Can’t say I was shell shocked because I more or less self-diagnosed myself sort of thing like in my mind before it and I thought if the worst comes to the worst it will be likeyou know’ I was thinking all sorts of treatment like radiotherapy and all this lot and that and when he put my mind at ease like, it was one of the lesser cancers, well just likelifted all things lifted off me, the concern and that – even though I was still concerned a bit about it, how it would turn out and what future come backs there were with it like and. As I say like I was really happy to hear what he said about the initial diagnosis like about when he turned round and said if he had to pick a cancer this would be one of them, that he wouldn’t be bothered, much bothered about.