Boadicea's Chariot

Today was the day I’d been waiting for, with equal measures of hope and dread.   Following the MRI scan and a few other tests, the chief neurosurgeon consultant was finally to deliver her verdict and my sentence.

As it happens, she was away on maternity leave, so I was seen by her deputy, an austere and awe-inspiring gentleman by the name of Brunovski (or something equally mid-European); he was as Aussie as they come, however.   We sparred a little and he told me that my grasp of medical terminology and anatomy were crap.   “Not so bad for a software engineer, though”.   He ignored this and brought up a succession of images from the MRI on his computer display.

“Look at that,” he cried.   “Can’t you see how absolutely normal it is?”

I couldn’t even see what it was, let alone judge its normality.

The bottom line is that I am no more likely than any other normal person to have another subdural haematoma – and no less likely either.   “Forget it, put it behind you and carry on like any other normal person.   Of course you can drive again.   No, no paperwork necessary.   Goodbye, good luck – and I’m quite sure I shan’t be seeing you again.”   He had the grace to grin broadly as he shook my hand and ushered me out of his office.

Boadicea and I were stunned.   It’s true that this is the outcome we had been hoping for, but it was so rapid, so clear-cut and so definite that we couldn’t take it on board immediately.   Five months to the day, exactly, and life has returned to normality.

Wow!