Smile please!

I will confess, I was not looking forward to having a camera stuck down my nose. In the accompanying paperwork sent along with invite, it said I could experience moderate to severe discomfort.

Otherwise known as pain I fretted about this as I have never been a lover of painful experiences.

I'm a coward, I admit it. But apart from the BDSM community, who really likes pain?

I was given some excellent advise;

"Ask for a nasal anaesthetic spray beforehand and you won't notice it at all."

Great, I happened to trust the source of this comment, so felt reassured. 

Silly me!

Reading my letter again, I spotted something I had previously missed, "unfortunately we will be unable to administer any anaesthetic, as it is important we are able to see the condition of your swallow".

Sometimes life doesn't seem fair.

So you know how it is when you wake up on a day that you have been dreading? Initial feeling of relaxation, followed quickly by the black cloud of dread.

And to make things worse it was a late appointment. Great, a whole day obsessing about the joys to come.

I turned up at the hospital, with the look of someone about to be hung, drawn and quartered.

Which shows I had lost perspective somewhat.

After turning up my usual 30 minutes early ( in case of traffic etc), I settled down for a Costa Hot Chocolate, their coffee being rubbish, for a relaxing half hour. 40 minutes later, this being the NHS, I got called in by the cheeriest nurse I've ever met. 

ẞhe was a trooper doing her absolute best to get me relaxed. And I did try, I really, really did.

But failed miserably. I was able to relax enough to sign a waiver, allowing them to use any images for educational purposes.

With the air of a man, waiting for the judge to don his black cap, to inform me of my fate, I screwed up what little courage I had and said I was ready.

And cutting to the chase, apart from the occasional feeling like I was gagging, it was a breeze. No pain, no discomfort, nothing. In and out in half an hour. 

Apart from confirming I'm a bit of an arse, it just goes to prove that frequently the fear of something, is worse than the reality.

I must remember that if I'm ever about to be hung, drawn and quartered!

UPDATE: just received a formal copy of the report and read the following "Investigation terminated after a relatively short period due to patients low tolerance to camera irritating the back of the throat.

And there was me thinking I was being all stoical and manly.