Checking In with the doctors

You are doing great

This is a phrase I have been hearing ever since I woke up after my 11 hour surgery way back a month ago! I was beginning to think it was just everyone's way of deflecting my mind from how bad things really were, but those thoughts have passed. I really am doing pretty well, all things considered.

Plastics

Today, I visited my plastic surgery team. It appears that I had two doctors involved in my reconstruction work. According to them, my primary surgeon left a mess on my face and in my mouth, and they had to jump in and fill in all the holes he left behind! What they did was to strip away a chunk of the top of my right leg (around a foot long from the scar), and fold that skin and tissue into the area around my cheek, and inside my mouth where I had a "defect" from my first surgery. What a mess! I ended up with that "clam" on my face, and a bunch of tissue in my mouth that hit my tongue when I try to speak!

I had little visible signs that I had been through cancer the first time, five years ago. This time, things are much more visible. The tumor was behind my cheek bone and in part of my upper jaw, so the work was much more involved. A Physician's Assistant in the plastic surgery clinic visited with me today, and she said she was disappointed that she missed the surgery, because her bosses said it was "very interesting" Always glad to help doctors learn new things!

The PA pulled the scotch tape off of my leg wound. Did you know they were doing that? It appears this is something new. The tape lets them see the scar to make sure it is not getting infected, and protects the area while it heals. She also pulled a few stitches from my leg and face. Most of the other stitching was done with dissolving thread, and you can hardly see the places where they did this work. Pretty impressive! The only thing that concerned me was how much new tissue they put in!

Getting rid of the clam

The doctor told me today that this big ball of skin on my face is going to go away in two ways. I will start radiation treatments as soon as everything heals well enough. That radiation will be directed into the new tissue, into the area around where the tumor was removed. As it blasts away any lingering cancer cells, it will also shrink the new tissue. Good news! I told them if they did not make that thing look better, I was going to camp out in their lobby and read their magazines until they figured out something.

After the radiation treatments are finished and things calm down (and after I stop glowing at night) they will revisit the entire area on my cheek and in my mouth and may do some additional work to tune things up. That should restore my face to a level where I can stand to be in front of a class! (Durn, I have a bunch of ideas for a mask to cover things. Something of a cross between Captain Picard while being integrated into the Borg, and the creature from Alien! It would have been neat!)

Swallowing 101

I am still doing this swallowing work. I am swallowing much better, but have a way to go. I can eat things with the consistency of pudding, and have tried some baby food (WOW, how babies stand this stuff is beyond me! It tastes just abut how it looks - BAD!) I can also get milk down, which was a problem a week ago. Progress is good.

MY primary surgeon says we are going to decide next week if I can go back to eating (at least eating Ensure) when I see him next week. I lived on Ensure while going through my last radiation treatment for several months, so that is something I can stand. If we decide it is necessary, we will switch from a tube in my nose to a bigger tube directly into my stomach. I still have the scar from the stomach tube from five years ago, and they will use that same scar to put another one in if needed. Hopefully, that will not be necessary!

Life is good

Last night was the last class day of this semester, and I really missed being in class while all my students presented their final project reports. I use major projects as a way to encourage my class to explore the things we have learned more deeply, and do something creative on their own or in a group. The projects are usually very well done!

I am walking (with a cane just in case) about a mile at a time, now. Not quite ready to resume jogging, but this makes me feel really good about things. I am returning to normal (more or less).

I still am getting support emails and cards from all over. My wife has set up all the cards in our family room, and I look them over from time to time. It is really comforting to know how many folks are keeping tabs on Cheryl and I.

My support team is changing

Our cousin is leaving tomorrow, after a month of supporting us while we went through the hospital stay and got set up at home. I am starting to get by without as much pain medicine, and am sleeping through the night. So, cousin Bill is getting a bit bored, and he will be heading back to Wyoming in the morning. We both really appreciate his help through all this.

My sisters are planning to stay for a while while I do radiation treatments. Those happen five days a week for seven weeks, so I will need a bit of help then as well.

More thanks!

All in All "You are doing great" seems to apply.

Thanks for reading this blog, and sending your support messages and prayers. I will have another update after my next doctor's visit in a week (or sooner if another story pops out of my head!)