Always look on the bright side because at the end of the day there’s always light at the end of the tunnel and it’s up to them to have the strength to actually think that and carry on. I know in some cases it can’t be the case because obviously it can be terminal and it can be painful… but as I say I’ve been lucky and it’s not been either of them.

I think the service that I received from the consultant I can’t name has been exceptionally good. I’ve been very pleased with him, he’s asked me if I wanted to go back to my own hospital because of the travelling, I’ve said, No, I am totally happy travelling here to see you because I know that I’m in the right hands.

Were you under a general anaesthetic or a local?

General.

Did that have any effects on you?

No… no… I was slightly sick afterwards but I was told that that was due to the anaesthetic. When I had the original biopsy at the local hospital, I was sick then, so basically I told them that, at the specialist hospital and they said, Oh well we’ll sort that out on the oh now what do you call him? The anaesthetist would sort that out as the amount of drugs or whatever they give you to take the pain away or whatever. And I was slightly sick… at the teatime after the operation because I had something to eat, but after that there was no problems at all.

Nervous (laughs) Nervous. I was nervous going to the hospital… to the degree that obviously everybody was going to leave, but I knew that I was only in for the night and the next morning I was going to have the operation straight away, so I didn’t have the time to get myself worked up- as I say I don’t worry about things a lot – and, and he came to see me in the morning and he said, Are you alright?’ I said yes’ he said you realise what’s happening?’ I said, Yes’ he said well you’ll be down in half an hour and you’ll be back in the ward within two hours, hopefully if everything’s gone according to plan… and we’ll take it from there,’ and they did. So I wasn’t too apprehensive at what was happening because I knew that I had to have it done, in a sense.

The only thing that it does effect is you probably wouldn’t know this but if you were going on holiday and you need insurance as soon as you mention cancer’ the premiums go up, whether it’s terminal or not, as soon as the word’s mentioned they ask you all the questions when did you last go to the doctor’s?’ and the premiums go up and that’s the only effect it has on your life [hesitation] from the point of view of carrying on. It has a cost implication that you would never really think about at the time. Everybody thinks about I want to live’ but then they say oh I’ll go on holiday’ and then you think oh that’s cost me, the insurance has cost me nearly as much as the holiday’ and at the end it’s a big thing. I suppose a lot of cancer patients especially with conditions worse than mine will find it very difficult to actually get an holiday because they’re probably not working, probably not retired there’s several other things that you’ve got to look at from their point of view as well as my point of view but the point of insurance on your life is an important factor when it comes to continuing your lifestyle as it originally was. I mean if you went on holiday tomorrow you’d just go down to the holiday place, book it, take out an insurance, end of conversation. I go down, I book it and then I think how, how much is it going to cost me on the insurance?’ We went to Canada to see my son six months after and the price of the insurance was nearly as much as the air fare just because I’d had a problem. At the stage, at the time I was at, no problem with me, it was just that you’d been a cancer patient and as far as they’re concerned it’s an added cost to them because obviously if anything did happen while you’re away and you didn’t disclose it, it would be a problem for your family to get you back or whatever, or treatment or whatever So that’s the only thing in life that’s sort of slowed up a bit is actually picking a holiday (laughs).

I didn’t need any aftercare whatsoever… really… if I’d have needed any I would have, I would have sure they would have gave, given me the treatment necessary. Every time I’ve gone they’ve been inspecting me and made sure that there’s no lumps or anything else. They’ve asked me the same sort of questions every time and they always comment on what a good job it is (laughs) and once or twice I’ve had a few students being there at the same time you know… and I’ve had no problems with it at all really. As I say I think I’ve been very, very lucky.

Well I was lucky really. I had… the catheter in… for a fortnight so really from a waterworks point of view I had no problems at all there because it was all automatic. Once I had the catheter out on the first visit to take the dressing off my catheter came out she said that I’d got to sup a pint and half of water and you’re not leaving the hospital until you’ve been to the toilet and I seen that you’ve been to the toilet because I want a sample. Alright, you think oo what happens if I don’t want to go?’ she said, You’re still not leaving and if you don’t wee then the catheter will go back in. So it gives, it gives you that I’ve got to go to the toilet, no matter how long it takes I’ve got to go because I don’t want the catheter back in. I want to be able to function on my, on my own bat. And other than sitting down for quite a period of time… I had no problems again whereas when I was in the hospital there were several people there going in for bladder problems and they couldn’t go to the toilet… so it made me realise that although I’d had the catheter in I could still function as I would normally do although not necessarily to the degree as I did before, possibly not as much as I did before because I probably was going… more regular for short, short amounts where I should imagine that would be because of the operation, just to be sure that you weren’t filling your bladder up and then obviously causing a major problem going to the toilet every time but now I have no problems with it at all.

What were your immediate thoughts when you received that diagnosis?

Can’t be me. But basically I’m one for not showing worry. The wife always worries about things and I just say look, we’ll take it at one step at a time. And at this stage I don’t feel ill I’ll go and have the operation and see where we go from there. I was working at the time. I went into work and told them I’d got to go in for the operation, they were sympathised with the problem and there were no problems at all with having the time off and I was back at work within three week of having the operation. But physically, I didn’t feel any different other than minus the end of the penis.

You talked about not disclosing any worries. How did you feel inside though?

Oh, well it’s very hard to say how you feel inside I have tendency to try and blank things out… same with work. If I go to work I’ll worry and get the job done accordingly, but once I leave the gate I always try and forget it and that’s through years of experience of, of being in a situation, especially at work where the pressure’s great while you’re there but if you keep it and take it home, it gets even worse, so I’ve sort of got to the stage now where I don’t let things worry me at all to that degree if I have a problem I discuss it with the wife but nine times out of ten she’ll have more problems than I will with the problem I’ve got, because she’s always whittling about everything, you know, so that’s all I can say really.

Did you tell your colleagues?

No, I only told the colleague that I’ve known for years, who I work with, who was – he was my boss, so I told him. Ahe was quite put back over it but he said, All youras far as I’m concerned you don’t come back to work till you’re physically fit. I went to tell the MD and he said the same. So there was no hassle at all on that side. And nobody at that time knew what the cancer was. I just said I’ve got cancer, I’m going to go in the hospital and have an operation and… the outcome will be what it will be.

Basically I went to the doctor’s… for something completely differentand as I was being examined the doctor noticed [hesitation] what looked like a wart so he said, I think we ought to have a second opinion on this’ and arranged for me to go to the local hospital. I went, and I was examined and at that stage he didn’t seem to think it was anything untoward. I then, probably a month later it seemed to get worse, so I went back to the doctors and he said, Yes, I think we ought to have you back in again. This time they said they’d do a biopsy on a day ward.

How did you feel about letting students look at that area of your body?

I’ve no worries at all because at the end of the day… people have got to learn and the only way of learning is by seeing it in the field.. in the hospital it was the same, when they came…

…round on the next day after the operation… he had students with him and they all inspected me and muttered. It doesn’t worry me now, it’s not a thing that has ever worried me in a sense, alright I’m not an exhibitionist (chuckles), yer know, you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all I should imagine, that was the comment that the nurse said when she took the dressing off, she said, You do realise I’ve got a job in a million’ so I said, Why, why is that?’ she said, it’s not every day you’ll be able to get hold of a man’s penis as part of the job!’ and I laughed and she laughed and when I came out the room where she was taking the dressing off everybody outside who was with me said, What was going off in there? You were having a laugh and a joke!’ so I said I’ll tell you later. But it was light-hearted… from everybody’s point of view really, on that side.