Turned out a busy day 9.00 appointment at a hospital about and hour away and we were caught on the motorway with a breakdown. We arrived about ten minutes too late to find the consultant was also caught and arrived about 20 minutes later. Mixed news they thought I had secondary cancer but can't definitively locate it, so no surgery soon but will continue me under surveillance for at least a year.
Good news with the machine though- they had discovered it was a design or part fault, extended a shaft in the cutter and it was free. So will be back in business.