Ahem...sorry about that. :) I suppose you can tell the staples are out of my neck.
Happiness. I can shower good again. And I'm hoping sleep will be easier, because they've really bugged me the last couple of nights. We'll also continue cleaning the stapled area through the weekend just to keep it clean, and then we'll discontinue that.
We have another follow-up appointment next Thursday morning, late, so there will be an update then.
OK. Now for the report.
Dr. Lehr got the path report back and it's essentially what he had told Randall that he thought after he came out of surgery. It does look like they got all the tumor during the operation...everything else in that area appears to be clean. However, 3 of the 16 lymph nodes they biopsied showed microscopic signs of cancer...indications that they have caught that very, very early in the spreading stage.
So, good news on the tumor itself. Not so good news that it's made it to the lymph nodes, but that doesn't change the prognosis, and Dr. Lehr seems to think further treatment is more of the precautionary type. Obviously they would want to be sure of the lymph nodes, but the radiation is how they're hoping to treat it.
So, yes to radiation. And that does mean pulling teeth. There will be some consultation stuff that needs to happen, but Dr. Lehr hopes for radiation treatments to start in early February.
For now that's where we are. Pretty much the expected news and the treatment is in line with what we were sort of expecting before the surgery.
As for me, I'm pooped. Happy to be able to shower again, but tired. Of course, it's late afternoon and I start that downhill slide anyway, so it's not unexpected. I'll continue to take it easy (and I'm still on the liquid diet until I can transition over) and I'll probably be off most of the weekend.
I'll definitely have an update for you after we go for the second post-op appointment on Thursday.
8 comments:
Yay! I'm glad they got it all, and the staples are out, and you can shower! It has to suck not being able to shower.
Sucks that they're going to have to do radiation, but it sounds like that was pretty much expected.
On balance though, the news sounds great! I'm so happy for you!
Firefly,
Yeah. This was more a confirmation that this was the way we were going. Not at all unexpected, and even the spreading to the lymph nodes was in-line with what Dr. Lehr thought we's find before the surger.
LF
Glad the staples are out and the prognosis good-ish!
I stumbled on this website while looking for a healing spell for myself. I don't know who you are, but my thoughts are with you. On December 14th I learned I also had a tumor at the age of 33. I am lucky it is not cancerous yet, but am still scared of the upcoming similar operation. Sharing stories help and I wish you a perfect recovery.
Take care of yourself,
V
V,
I appreciate it. There's no question this can get you down, but I'm a pretty cantankerous person. My first response was to get pissed. :)
Coping with the loss of half my tongue is the hard part, I'm finding. I'm hoping that as everything heals and I get used to it, things will be better.
Good luck on your end!
Donna
It must be such a relief to have the staples out and to be able to shower and sleep properly.
I'm sure glad there were no surprises in the path report... I confess to holding my breath a bit there. Having teeth removed... that's no fun at all! I take it that will be done before radiation starts?
I'm amazed at how well you are holding up!
Cheers, Dru
We know that you're one tough lady and that you can beat this thing no matter how hard it seems right now. Brock and I are glad that things are going this well for you and our thoughts and prayers are with you every step of the way.
-Lark-
Lark,
Thank you. I really appreciate it. :)
(And please tell Brock we miss him and you both over on TC). I've gotten lucky, I think that the doctor was able to get all the cancer in the tongue during surgery, and now we tackle those lymph nodes. The news could have been so much worse.
LF
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