N3il’s Blog

With 7 day to go till the main operation, I now have another operation on Tuesday, total 2 operations in one week.

Today I had a call from Kings hospital asking me to go in next Tuesday for a procedure called Embolization (wikipedia link). This procedure is used to slow or stop blood supply to a tumour, thus reducing its size. It will be done under local anaesthesia and will be similar to the ballon occlusion test I had 3 weeks, as they will again go in via a catheter put in my carotid artery in my groin.

I was aware there might be a possibility of this, but had hoped wouldn’t need to have it, as the bruising on my legs has only just gone from the last op 3 weeks ago. But after reading up on Embolization on the internet I can see why my consultant wanted to get it done as hopefully it will start to reduce the size of the tumour, before the main operate on Thursday.

I’m still looking for sponsorship for Movember and you can sponsor me on this link mobro.co/neiljeremy1.

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me so far as we have raised £168 and our team moteam.co/bandofbros-spc has raised £473 in total.

Thanks again for your support and prayers at this time.
Neil

Hi Guys

Check out this video clip, men it’s worth watching.

We sung these 2 songs at church today, and they just sum up some of my throughs and feelings.

God I look to You

God I look to You, I won’t be overwhelmed
Give me vision to see things like You do
God I look to You
You’re where my help comes from
Give me wisdom, You know just what to do

And I will love You Lord my strength
And I will love you Lord my shield
And I will love You Lord my rock
Forever all my days I will love you God

Cornerstone

Movember has kicked off this week and my moustache has started to establish itself on my face although my chin has been cold this week without any of its normal coverings! Already have been given £50 of sponsorship, so you want to sponsor me go to http://mobro.co/neiljeremy1.

Earlier in the week I had a letter confirming the date of Thursday 21 November as the date for the main operation, which will take place at Guys hospital and yesterday 8 October I met up with Mr Obholzer to to review the results from the balloon occlusion test I had on the 24 October and the results as I have already mentioned on previous blogs were good. But he is looking at the possibility of having another procedure similar to the balloon occlusion test, that would block off some of the arteries feeding the tumour before the main operation, but this would need to be done a couple of days before 21. So I wouldn’t know about this till nearer the time.

He did go over some of the issues, one being the small risk of a stroke which has been reduced due to the balloon test and they other being that there is a strong possibility that they will have to sacrifice the hearing in my left ear to get at the tumour. Whilst this isn’t 100% certain it is a real possibility. I’m likely to be in hospital for between a week and 2 weeks and tube feed for at least the first week and I could also have issues with swallowing and talking for a while and the nerves in the left side of my face might also be temporary damaged causing my face to be a bit lop sided, but this could hopefully get better over the next 6 months or so. So at least the family will enjoy the quiet for a time.

So whilst I’m glad to have a date for the operation and to get it over with, I can’t say that I’m looking forward to it and to the time I’ll need to get back to normality afterwards. But I do appreciate all the support and prayers so may of you have given us as a family and I also know that the results of the balloon test was so positive because of all the prayers that so many of you have made on my behalf and my faith keeps me going as I know God is looking after me.

Please continue to prayer over these next few weeks that the operation might go according to plan and that there might not be any complications during the operation and afterwards the healing might happen quickly and that the doctors might be amazed at how well everything has gone so well.

Thanks again for continuing to read this blog and supporting us as a family.

It’s now Movember along with some others friends from the Band of Brothers men’s group that I lead at St Paul’s Crofton. We will be starting to grow a moustache for Movember to raise funds and awareness for men’s health. It’s going to be a hairy journey and I want you to be part of it.

As most of you know, Movember last year was a significant time for my health, as this journey all started last November, when the design agency I was working at decided to get involved in Movember. Six guys including myself started Movember clean shaven and grew moustaches throughout the month to raise money. During the month we took photos every day of our moustaches progress. At the end of the month I was putting together these images to make a slideshow. It was at this time that I noticed that the left side of my face was bigger than the righthand side. So I checked my neck out and realised my neck was swollen under my left ear and jaw. This kick started my journey to the doctors and hospitals, which turned out to be tumour in my neck, which hopefully could be operated on before the end of Movember this year.

You can see our team at moteam.co/bandofbros-spc and if you feel as strongly as I do about changing the face of men’s health, enlist for Movember and JOIN OUR TEAM now. If you can’t join us please support our team by sponsoring our team page or sponsor me individually at mobro.co/neiljeremy1.

A moustache is the mark of a man, and today it is a symbol to spark conversations about important health issues. So guys, pledge to grow a Mo today, or ladies, join the team to support my Mo.

Find out more about why you should join me and Movember, by taking a look at THE CAUSES WE ARE FIGHTING FOR.

Thanks in advance for supporting our team and helping to change the face of men’s health.

United we Mo.

Neil