Thursday 16th September 10 Lipoma removal

I got up reasonably early as today I was booked into the Leeds General Infirmary to surgically remove my forehead lipoma.  I've had this quite a few years; it's a fatty lump, benign, not harmful, but if it's in a visible place, people do notice it and some ask about it.  Mine has looked like I've bumped my head and got a bruise or 'egg' for several years.  When I took it to my GP after it became very obvious, he described it as the size of a squashed pea, and told me not to worry about it.

However, as it got bigger, an average of two people a week would ask me if I'd bumped my head.  I grew tired of having to explain what a lipoma was.  Children especially are really good at just saying what's in their mind, and sometimes have no concept of whether it's appropriate or not to mention strange lumps on people's foreheads.  The worst time was when in a committee meeting quite recently, someone kept on looking at it; it was most off putting and I found it difficult to concentrate on the meeting because of that.

So today I cycled down to the station, hopped on a train which got in to Leeds at about 11.45, and walked up to the Art Gallery where I sat and had my sandwiches for lunch, listening to the aural sculptures. Then I walked up to the LGI and followed the signs to the Clarendon Wing.  I went to the wrong bit at first, the plastic surgery dressings place (I was sent there by Reception) and they phoned through to Ward 63 to find out if I was on their list, which I was.  So once I'd got there I sat and waited, then was called in to have my blood pressure taken and an identification band put on my wrist.  Then I went to wait again, and there was friendly chat in the waiting room.  Then I was called again and the Doctor drew an arrow above my lump and I signed the consent form.  Then more waiting... but not long.  I was called again and told to take off mt tee shirt and put on a gown.  My canvas bag and bum bag were put in a locker and into the theatre I went.

I was asked to lie on a trolley/table and assorted covers were put on me, my head washed with antiseptic and eyes covered up.  I had I think three local anaesthetic injections, which are never nice, but aren't really that awful.  Then there was a fair amount of pushing and pulling and I recognised the crackling sound of cauterisation, where a wire is caused to heat up with an electric current, and this is used to seal blood vessels, as the area is well supplied with blood. I guess the operation took about 20 minutes.  I'd already said I'd be interested to see what they took out, so when they were done and had taken the tape off my eyes, I was shown the little plastic jar with some clear liquid in it, containing my lipoma, a pink blob, like a Smartie or a Minstrel in shape, and size-wise, somewhere between the two I think.  It had been growing between my skull and muscle.  Apparently they can appear anywhere, under the skin, within tissues, even within a nerve.  So mine was easy to remove.  They deal with quite a few.  Mine will be sent for analysis, to check it is in fact a lipoma and nothing more serious.

So I had a coffee and 10 minutes rest, and a talk about coming back in a week to have the dressings removed, and about not getting it wet and not doing vigorous exercise for a couple of days.  I got my tee shirt back on and gathered my stuff and walked back to the station, leaving the hospital at 2.45.  I got back into the house at 4.30.

I was fussed over but didn't want fussing over.  I'd bought paracetamol in Leeds Station and that had kicked in and the soreness and pain was gradually going.  Gill made tea... microwaved sweet potato and mushrooms in white sauce, with goats cheese, and broccoli.

After this I went to do just a bit of gentle wooding; to the place where the shrubs and trees have been dumped, and I sorted through them, secateuring off twigs and thinner stuff, ending up with another trailer load to bring back.  I chopped this up with loppers and put my bike away and came in.

A quiet evening dealing with fruit ensued, with quite a bit of facebook stuff.

Friday 16th July 10

Up bright and early as had an appointment at 10.30 at the hospital outpatients to have my lipoma looked at by a plastic surgeon. This lump on my forehead has been growing for several years and is very noticeable; several people each week ask me if I've bumped my head, and I have to explain each time what it is. Also, at several recent committee meetings, another attendee has been looking at my forehead rather than at my face and this is somewhat offputting.

So, I showed it to the Doc and told him about my experiences. He without any hesitation said that he would be happy to remove it... because it was still growing and as it was affecting my life in the way that it is. He said it would be done under local anaesthetic, in Leeds, and the procedure would take about 20 minutes, although with all the preparation and stuff, it would be an afternoon.

I did ask if this was a sensible use of resources and he again assured me that it was a small operation and that in his opinion it was definitely the right thing to do. There is always the chance of infection with any surgical procedure, and there will be a scar which may well be red for 6 months and might take up to 2 years to disappear... and there's a possibility it could become a keloid scar, raised up, but that's only a small possibility. So, sometime in the next 16 weeks, I'm due for a lumpectomy.

Before I went I had my nose swabbed for MRSA... I'll be informed if I carry this bacterium and I'm not sure what they do if I have it.

I was out of the hospital before 11am and cycled down to the Museum Gardens to go to a public consultation at the Hospitium. This was about the proposed 'Allerton Waste Recovery Park' which will, if built, deal with the problem of landfillable household waste from York and North Yorkshire. Currently York recycles 45% of household waste via kerbside boxes (and some bring banks) but this leaves 55% to deal with. Currently this is landfilled. There are two main problems with landfill.... space is running out and they emit methane whilst being constructed (although when full, they are capped and this is captured and often used to generate electricity). They also need the liquid pumped out and treated. So, what is the alternative?

Well this project aims to sort the rubbish and remove at least another 5% of recyclable materials (glass, metals, plastics, 'WEEE') before the organic fraction is removed and put in an anaerobic digester, where some of the carbon is extracted in the form of methane, which can be used as a fuel... maybe cleaned up, liquefied and used to power the fleet of lorries which will be needed to bring the waste from all over North Yorkshire. The AD process leaves a sort of compost, which can be used to cover landfill or in landscaping. It is not high quality material as it has lots of contaminants. The remaining non-recyclables and non-organics are burnt in a carefully controlled environment, generating heat for electricity. The ash/clinker left is used in building materials. The emissions in modern incinerators are very low, and I talked to an independent air pollution expert, and she described the assorted arrestation technology used to reduce and capture dioxins, furans and the like. I had several long conversations with one of the gents there, and we covered lots of different areas.... including the possibility that they could build a special AD plant for 'source separated' food waste, which would produce methane but also a high quality digestate/compost.

One of the final things I did was to introduce Jonathan Tyler, chair of the Environment Forum, to Andrew, the chap I had been speaking with. The Environment Forum will be given a presentation in August and a chance to discuss the wider picture of waste with him.

I then came home... walked through town, cycled to Country Fresh, picked up 4 boxes of resources, chatted with Felicia, met Peter, walked to Hull Road with Peter and got home at about 1.45 for a late lunch.

Gill had gone to our youngest's leavers assembly. I had a quiet hour on the computer.

Later I had some very good work in the garden; I moved the SunMar 400 and completely filled it with the materials I'd picked up today and a day or three ago, plus the shredded stuff... it will get very hot!

Gill made a quiche and I had the last chunk of nutloaf.

Not sure where the evening went... but I chatted with facebook contacts, played Scrabble and, via Laura, found a fantastic animator called Cyriak and if you want a giggle, and like cows, do watch this video. I'm an instant fan.

Thursday 17th September 09

Gill did the early stuff but I got up in time to get some bits and pieces together for my stint at St Nicholas Fields. I took some slightly damaged/bruised/beginning to rot fruit, some half rotted materials and some finished compost, to show a group of about 15 home-educated children and their parents.

They'd been out on the nature reserve but soon after 11am were ready to engage with me and my enthusiastic composting lesson. I always ask groups to put their hands up if they home compost or have a compost heap... and maybe I should have expected this, but they all did!

I ask lots of questions, and the answers help the session move forward, but I often soon ask them to look under the green grass of the lawn they are standing on and tell me what they can see between the soil and the living grass. There is invariably some dead grass and other decaying vegetable matter, which introduces the idea that composting is a natural process. I ask if they know what happens if fruit and veg material is thrown in an ordinary bin, and some of the older children already knew about landfills and methane, so the climate change implications came into the discussion.

I showed them a selection of compost bins including the one which has a perspex front which is revealed when the ordinary front panel is taken off, allowing the different layers of material to be seen... well rotted stuff at the bottom, semi composted in the centre and freshly added at the top. I also showed them the large New Zealand bins, where I found a slug, woodlice and a lovely staphylinid beetile, sometimes known as a cocktail beetle, similar to the rove beetle known as the Devil's Coach Horse. (another good image here)

Finally, on to the wormeries. The Can Of Worms wormery is a really good educational tool, as it shows the results of the worms' work in the lower layers. Children tend to really like worms, so this was a good place for me to stop and the new Education Officer to take over with a game based on statements about composting and a 'true' and 'false' pair of caddies to put the statements into.

This didn't take long and I was soon ready to go home and have a late lunch.

At 1.30, just before I had lunch, Martin and Bob from the Green Festival came round to sort out the last of the financial transactions from the festival.

After lunch we got a phone call from our eldest's school. He had received a bump on the head somehow and therefore the school needed to tell us. He didn't want to come home though... but a short time later we got another call saying he had a headache and did want to come home. So Gill hopped on her bike and cycled up there, and walked him home. He certainly does have a big lump on his forehead... we were able to joke about it being like my lipoma, a fatty benign lump I've got on my forehead. (mine is similar to this one)

I collected our youngest. And then as Gill was spending time with the boys, I made tea... a nutloaf with walnuts and rice (plus the usual breadcrumbs, peanut butter, grated and chopped vegetables, egg and assorted flavourings) cauliflower cheese and roasted Tromboncino squash (sometimes known as Zucchetta Rambicante, and here's the best set of photos of this vegetable).

This was well recieved and very filling. I'm glad this weird long squash I've grown are so tasty... although not quite as good as butternut, the metre long fruit I just cooked (in chunks) was easy to grow and is quite productive. I'll try to find these seeds again.

A quiet evening, washing up, drying bananas, facebook, blog, telly. The usual.