A clean bill of health

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from one of the nurses at the Ear, Nose and Throat Outpatients Department (Otolaryngology) at Christchurch Hospital. She'd noticed that I wasn't due back in until tomorrow, and was ringing to make sure the infection had gone away. When I told her I was concerned that it was still a bit infected and that I'd run out of antibiotics, she said I could go in and have a nurse look at it if I wanted. So this morning I walked in to the hospital to have my nose checked.

The head nurse took a quick look at the end of my nose where I'd noticed some inflammation and declared that it wasn't infected. Apparently what I have is a common reaction among people of my "skin type" (I get the occasional pimple) who have grafts. To be on the safe side, she had me lie down and did a bit of prodding and jabbing with various implements. The conclusion was there was no infection. She then shuffled through my file and saw that I was due in again tomorrow. She thought this was a waste of a trip. The surgeon I was due to see tomorrow (the brunette, whom I now know is called Rochelle) was on hand, so she was called in. She seemed very pleased with her handiwork. She also said that tests on the bit of skin they removed confirmed that what I had was a basal cell carcinoma, but that they had successfully removed all of it. She agreed there was no need to come in tomorrow.

So there you have it. Unless something goes wrong, I don’t need to go back to the hospital again. The nose still has some healing to do, but that's just a matter of time. Meanwhile I can concentrate on other things, like training - and deciding what clothes to take.

Distance walked today: 9.6km
Total distance walked since Tokaido training began: 207.8km
Days left until departure: 25