Page 233 - She's One Crazy Lady!

them for judging purposes. What a team they were. To end that evening we held a Race Night – with pigs and camels racing. Sadly there was no No. 5 but the support for Crazy Hats was still very apparent. Margaret went on to walk up Ben Nevis with her son for us, raising well over £1,000; they came along to our Walks; to pamper evenings, courtesy of ‘LUSH’ in Leicester who supported us well; to our ‘milestone’ events and even came out with us when we were collecting in supermarkets. What was so special about the ’Plastics Team’ was the ‘togetherness’ – the Team stayed as a team for many, many years – and were there for us again, medically, years later.
We’re in to 2009 now ..
With the reconstruction behind me I was very often quizzed about why I opted to have it done, was I pleased and what was it really like – what actually happens? I used to laugh saying I didn’t know what it was ‘really’ like because I was asleep. It sent me thinking though. What was it really like? What did happen behind the scenes? Who was involved? Who did what? How was the patient looked after? Lots of questions.
I had a thought... I wondered whether Mr Varma would allow me in Theatre to observe a similar operation to the one I had. Dare I ask him? It was a big ask and a question that possibly none of his patients had asked before. Through our support for his department I had got to know him very well and my request to him came quite naturally. I was thrilled when he said yes, saying he could understand why I had to do this. I felt just as I did when he told me he could do my operation, really excited. I had already met his theatre sister, Jackie, at one of our Breasts Reunited evenings and she had urged me to ask him and explained a lot of the protocol with me so that I was prepared. Jackie had her own reasons for wanting me to go into theatre – she too had breast cancer and a mastectomy and was awaiting breast reconstruction – with Mr Varma. I also had built up a good rapport with Mr Varma’s secretary, Kelly, and it was with her help that I eventually got into Theatre. As a matter of course, permission had to be granted by the hospital, the theatre team and, more importantly, the patient.
The adrenalin in me was as if I was going in to have the operation myself and just as it was before, there were concerns and negative comments:
“Oh, I don’t how you can put yourself through this Glennis!” “Do you really want to see what you’ve had done?”
“Won’t it bring back some awful memories?”
“I bet you’ll pass out!”
I wasn’t put off.
Behind the scenes the wheels were in motion and everything was arranged. Or so we thought. On the evening before I was due to observe an operation Mr Varma made me aware there had been a technical hitch but another date – and patient – would be arranged.
“I wondered whether Mr Varma would allow me
in Theatre
to observe
a similar operation to the one I had. Dare I ask him?
”
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