Waking up to a new reality

Discovery

It was early Saturday morning and mum and Lauren were up, breakfasted and on their way to the hospital. They made their way into the ward and they sat one each side of the bed. Eric was still sedated, but they had started to reduce the dose to start to awaken him. Like the nurse had suggested last night, it was nearly nine when he started to rouse.

Groggily, he opened his eyes and smiled as he saw both mum and Lauren by his side, each holding a hand, he asked, "Is that it over?"

Mum looked at him, smiled and said, "Yes sweetie - it's all done.".

Thankfully he hadn't asked any other questions, for they would be harder to answer. For the next few hours, Eric alternated between dozing and waking. During this period, Eric was moved from the open ward into a room of his own.

It was about eleven o'clock when Mr Lamb came in to check up on Eric's progress. It was only at this point that Eric noticed all the tubes attached to him. Asking Mr Lamb what they were all for, Eric was showing the first signs of curiosity, which was encouraging to Mr Lamb, but he also knew this was a crucial point in Eric's recovery.

Mr Lamb answered all Eric's questions, but did not provide any more detail than necessary. "The one in your arm is keeping you fluid levels up as you've not been able to drink for two days; the other tube is the pain control medication that you had yesterday and then you have a catheter in to drain your bladder until you're ready to get up and go for a pee!"

Eric looked at the surgeon and said, "What day is it? It's still Friday isn't it?"

Mum answered, "No sweetie, it's Saturday – you've been out of it for a full day."

Looking back at Mr Lamb, Eric questioned, "That's it all sorted, isn't it?"

Mum and Lauren held his hands as Mr Lamb answered, "Well Eric, it was a bit more complicated than we had hoped, but I am able to confirm that we were able to get rid of all the malignant tissue and the prognosis is good, but it will take time to recover and adjust."

Eric, still a bit sleepy, dozed off again at that point and Mr Lamb looked at mum and said, "We were lucky there, but we'll need to tell him the full story later once he's properly clear of the anesthetic and able to process things clearly."

Mr Lamb then excused himself to continue his rounds, and left the room.

It was early afternoon when Eric woke again. This time mum knew he was clear of the sedatives, and fully compos mentis, for the first thing he said as he opened his eyes was, "I'm starving!"

Rather than press the button to call the nurse, mum went to find somebody. Returning a few minutes later, with a pack of sandwiches, she explained that that was the best they had until dinner time, as lunch was over.

Eric wolfed down the sandwiches as if he had never seen food before. Shoving the last bite into his face he said, "Gosh, I needed that.", before wiping his lips with a tissue.

With something in his stomach, he managed a smile and ask about the operation. "Was I dreaming, or did Mr Lamb say things were more complicated than he had hoped?" ,he quizzed.

Eric, although not always the most perceptive of kids, could see that mum was looking a bit apprehensive.

Waiting for mum's answer, he continued, "Does that look on your face mean I did loose both my balls, then?"

Mum: "Well yes – you need to brace yourself!"

Eric: "It's OK mum, I'm thirteen next week, I can take it on the chin."

Mum: "Well sweetie, before they did any surgery, they took tissue samples from your whole groin area. What the biopsies reveal was that both testicles were badly infected, so they had no choice but to remove both of them. But, the biggest complication of all was that your penis was badly affected too!"