Trip to Bolton and Salford

Got the train to Bolton to accompany my daughter to the Skull Base Centre at Salford Royal Hospital.
I passed through Hindley Station and was surprised how pretty it is (see photo).
My daughter Karen and I were driven to the hospital by my granddaughter Caroline. Impressed with the staff at the hospital.
Firstly the audiologist did a comprehensive hearing test followed by a speech recognition test as these were wanted by the consultant before she saw Karen. The audiologist explained everything really well and how Karen can apply for Access to Work which gives her aides to employment and she is ordering her a Roger Pen which is a very clever gadget to help with hearing. 
The consultant also explained everything really well. She showed Karen the MRI scan and zoomed in to relevant places. She explained the anatomy and pointed out the normal stuff before pointing out the tumour. She explained the size and its precise location - how far it was from all the important parts etc. and that she would book Karen a repeat MRI for August and this would decide the way forward. The MRI will be more detailed than Bolton's. If the tumour is growing inwards to the brain (it has already grown a little this way but has quite a bit of space before it would cause damage) then intervention would be needed before it can damage the brain and intervention would be either surgery or radiotherapy. These are not done unless necessary because they cause side effects. If it has not grown then she will continue with 6 monthly MRI scans for a while before moving to annual ones and then one every two years and finally to one every three years, if still no growth. at that stage it would be discussed with Karen if she wants to carry on with the 3 year scans or end them as it would be unlikely to start growing after that length of time being static. 
Karen was introduced to one of the specialist nurses and has contact details for her and another so if she gets any new symptom or problem she can contact them right away.
We all came away feeling more reassured.