Keep the prayers coming!

This has really been a very horrible situation, but it sure is moving along as smoothly as it possibly can.  I strongly believe it is because I have opened up to share my story; which has created so much love, prayer and positive energy to make this life changing event move along with as few bumps as possible.

Today, I went to visit my surgeon for the first time after leaving the hospital.  He feels I am doing a really good job with the healing process.  It is completely normal for the left side of my face to be numb, excruciating ear pain, difficulty moving my left arm and feeling exhausted from talking and swallowing all the time.  The scar is healing as it should be (minus the stupid allergic reaction).

Then, the really good news came.  My doctor still believes after getting all pathology reports back that the cancer is GONE!  He also plans to meet with a team of doctors, nurses and social workers tomorrow morning to review my case to determine if any additional treatments are needed at this time (radiation/chemotherapy).  Although the meeting did not happen yet, he feels very strongly that I will NOT need radiation/chemotherapy.  <insert a big happy dance!>

Here is a diagram of what the vocal cord looks like.  The black portion is what was removed from mine, so as you can tell majority was removed on the left side, however the cancer did spread and crossed over the midline so a little was also removed on the right side.

Needless to say, a lot was removed which does not give me much to work with in terms of getting a loud voice back.  I will work my hardest at getting back whatever I can.

In addition, the large scar on my neck is from a modified left neck dissection in which 23 lymph nodes were removed from sections II, III, IV of my neck.  (Lymph nodes in the neck are categorized from I-VI).  One lymph node was cancerous and the rest were not.  Since this ended up being a modified neck dissection (instead of a selective neck dissection, which is what was anticipated) I will be in physical therapy for some time in order to gain back the strength in my left arm, to build muscles in my neck and to help with the nerve damage.

 

With all of this, I am able to leave the state of Arizona and return home to my babies (and Rob) the end of the week!

When I return back to PA, I will be seeing my ENT at the University of Penn on a weekly basis for a few weeks, attending physical therapy and speech therapy (number of weekly sessions to be determined by therapists) and I will not be able to pick up my children for about 2-3 weeks.  (I can however snuggle with them in my lap and I can’t wait!)

My journey is far from over and I know going back home is going to introduce so many challenging situations.  I plan to continue taking this journey in baby steps.  For now, I am going to enjoy the 70 degree weather and each day of positive news as it comes.