Today I added a third hospital to my surgical adventures. This time we were dealing with radiation side effects, and the last surgery I had at M.D. Anderson where they replaced my lower-left jawbone.
The radiation has generated a protrusion in my esophagus which is making swallowing more difficult. The solution is to stretch the esophagus with a little cutting in the protrusion - this needs a delicate hand to avoid tearing things!
The other issue is my constant drooling, resulting from my lower left lips dropping far below their normal position. The result is a clear path for any fluids to leave my mouth almost as soon as I try to drink anything. I have learned to hold a finger over that point and use that to stem the flow. However, most of the time I do not notice that saliva is drooling out of my mouth and soaking my shirt. Hard to deal with.
I found two doctors at the University of Kansas Medical Center who decided to try to fix both issues - at the same time!
So, today at 6:30AM, Cheryl and I showed up at the hospital and checked in for "outpatient" surgery.
Unfortunately, Cheryl was left in the waiting room while they escorted me to a usual bed where I changed into the ubiquitous "BHO" gown. (If you do not know what "BHO" means, it has something to do with a body part being exposed because this gown is open at the back!)
The nurse showed up to install an IV Line, and i gave her my usual grief about doing it right. She did a fine job on the first try, unlike some experiences I have had where I had to fire nurses who seemed unable to find any source of blood! She asked me a ton of questions including what I was going to have done. Don't they know? I had to answer that question about four times, once for each new person who showed up. An anesthesia resident showed up to go over the procedure they would do, and later the full anesthetist doctor showed up as well. For this procedure, they would not start putting me to sleep until I was on the operating table.
My ENT doctor showed up and talked about the stretching procedure, which involves a balloon they inflate to do the work. Once she gets done, they will switch to the plastic Surgeon's job. That doctor showed up and introduced himself. Good thing since in this age of COVID we never actually see faces, only eyes, and I did not recognize them! Basically, the work he was going to do involved cutting into scar tissue on the inside of my mouth left over from skin grafts they did at MDA. Then he planned to install some borrowed tissue in that cut to prevent it from closing back down. Of course that tissue comes from the farm where tissue is grown, AKA, your leg!
Next he planned to cut into more transplanted skin on my cheek and try to elevate my lower lip. He hoped that would help with the drooling, but we need to see.
They finally wheeled my into the operating room at 8:00AM and slid me onto the table. There were a slew of folks in the room - two doctors, two anesthesiologists, and a couple of nurses. As soon as I was on the table, they shoved an oxygen mask on me and asked me to start breathing that. Nothing seemed to happen for several minutes and then the lights went out!
I woke up in the recovery room to find a nurse getting my clothes ready so they could throw me out of the place! I was a bit groggy, but managed to get dressed. I notices a large patch on my left leg where the farm was harvested. This patch is weird, it draws blood from the surgical area into the covering making the whole thing red, which they said was natural. I seemed to have stitches on the outside of my cheek and some inside my mouth, but I could not see any of that in the room.
The nurse told me they had notified Cheryl to fetch the car, and I was wheeled out to the front of the hospital and into the car! Phew, we were on our way home around 10:30! Pretty quick for the short nap I managed to get.
When we got home, we managed to explore the results in more detail. Thankfully, I only had minor pain, mostly an ache coming from my leg. The mouth surgery was not painful, in part due to the fact that all my previous surgeries left that side pretty much numb.
The ENT doctor told Cheryl that she was able to use a pretty large balloon to do the stretch so that part looks promising. We will need tor wait and see how that helps.
The work on my face is an issue at present. I have a lot of swelling in my mouth which will prevent me putting in my denture plate. That helps keep food and drink under control, so I need to find out how we will deal with that. The attempt to pull up my lip looks like it succeeded, but left me with a larger opening when I attempt to close my lips. The Plastic Surgeon was not able to pull things up as far as he wanted, and we will discuss all of that when I do a follow-up visit this week.
For now, I am on a diet of pudding and Ensure with a salt water mouthwash afterward. I have been able to swallow things a bit easier (pills and pudding) but the mouthwash is a mess. Cheryl and I both notice that I have not been drooling, so that is a big plus.
Hopefully, this will be my last surgery for a while. Unless the doctors decide to do more "tweaking". After a bit of healing we will see!
As usual, I had a lot of folks praying over us during this new adventure. We are convinced that God's hand is always involved in our care, and we have been blessed with good results. Thanks to everyone for their prayers!