Soooo....I Have Cancer

Surgery went well according to my doc. 9 hours and 40 minutes later I was in the ICU.

After sugery I had a breathing tube in my left nostril, feeding tube in my right nostril. My neck swelled to the size of a softball from the lymph node removal and had a 2 draining tubes in it. My right forearm had a sleeve-like bandage on it to cover the incision they made to take the artery/vein for my flap reconstruction. My right wrist had this weird vacuum bandage on it covering the area that they harvested skin for my tongue from. My right thigh had a ~1.5 inch x ~4 inch area where they took skin to replace to skin on my right wrist. Turns out I didn't need a trachostemy which was good (one less tube coming out of my body...).

On Tuesday night my blood pressure, pulse, and temp started to soar and I was sweating profusely. My room was set to be maintained at 74 degrees F so the blood vessels in my mouth wouldn't constrict in order for the flap to heal. Every. Single. Bone in my body was saying, "Time to wave the white flag dude. You're done." It was a very odd experience. Every breath seemed to take 5 minutes. I closed my eyes and said to myself, "Not a chance you're giving up now. Keep fighting. Don't give up." I have no idea if they gave me any meds (I'd be surprised if they didn't) but my BP and pulse eventually came back down.

I was transferred to a "regular" hospital room on Wednesday late in the afternoon. Later that evening my surgeon paid us a visit. He looked at my mouth, said it looks great, and asked if he could share some good news with us. He said (more) words that I will never forget: "The margins on the tumor were exceptionally clear, and so were all of the lymph nodes we removed." Tears welled up in my eyes as well as my wife's. Through a swollen tongue I was able to manage a "Thank you, doctor. Thank you." Since the question was on both of our minds my wife asked what this means as far as radiation is concerned. He said the path results were definitely a game changer but he didn't want to completely rule it out yet. My surgeon is going to meet with a radiation oncologist at his hospital (this whole thing was done out of network....that's a whole other story that I could go on and on and on about....), discuss this at a weekly cancer forum, and also consult a radiation oncologist (in my network) where I would likely receive treatment if needed.

The tubes slowly but surely came out over the week but I came home with my feeding tube still in. Ugh. What a pain in the *kitten*. It didn't hurt but was uncomfortable and made it difficult to swallow and breathe. It came out at my appointment last week which was awesome. After he removed it my doctor handed me a small cup of water and said, "Here you go. Cheers." It was the first sip of water I had since the night before surger and it tasted oh so good.

I don't know what the deal is but I've been in essentially ZERO pain since leaving the ICU. It's been at least a week and a half since I've taken any sort of pain med. I'm not complaining. I asked my doc about this at my appointment last week...I was concerned that there may have been some sort of damage or something??...and he just chuckled and said no pain about the best thing we can expect and while not "normal" it isn't uncommon.

All my wounds are healing and I'm just waiting for the swelling in my mouth to go down so I can start eating real food again.

I can't get too far ahead of myself and I know I'm not out of the woods yet but things are looking pretty good. I still have a long way to go, especially if we do radiation. But I'm very grateful to be home and even more excited that I can eat soft solid food as long as I can tolerate it. It's getting boring though but I know it's just temporary.

I have an appointment next Tuesday with my radiation oncologist where we will discuss the pros and cons of radiation for my situation.

Be Well,
Josh

I'm so sorry that you have to go through this. My dad had neck cancer (also a nonsmoker). He has recovered and is five years cancer free. Last year, I found out I had cancer. I ended up having major surgery and have since recovered and am cancer free. Believe me, I know the feelings you're experiencing right now. But, it does get better. Just try to relax, get all the information you can, and then evaluate all your options so you don't regret any decisions you make. I definitely look at my life differently now, but I think it's a good thing, because I really try to cherish the important moments and not stress myself out as much.

Best of luck with everything!