Meeting with the surgeon...

This morning I met with the surgeon who did all the work on my neck/throat to excise the oropharyngeal carcinoma in late November of 2007... about 16 months ago. The last time I saw him was in August of 2008, 8 months ago. Since then, he and his wife have had their fourth child... but this blog is about me, not him. Nice guy, though.

On we go...

The examination went well... aside from the fact that he produced that damned fibre optic scope that he seems to take great pleasure in feeding through my right nostril and down into my throat to have a look around.

The good news is that everything looks 'really good'. There isn't any bad news, only one area of concern.

I went in with a list of complaints/observations; thank goodness for G. If not for her, I would never track some of these things, let alone write them down for reference. The list today looked something like this:

1. swallow is changing; becoming more of a challenge
2. reflux and heartburn; recurring way too much
3. tongue issues; burning sensation, loss of taste, odd sensations
4. intermittent coughing
5. hiccups, burping (gas)
6. hearing; much better. The guy you sent me to was wrong!
7. joint pain, muscle pain/fatigue, especially in lower extremities when inactive for a time
8. swollen saliva gland; is it ever going to go down?

So, the basic exam went well. He probed and prodded and stuck his fingers in my mouth to feel around. Structurally, everything looks good. There is no evidence of anything new.

The list;

1. The swallow will continue to change as I continue to heal. He recommended that I follow the advice from the speech people at iRSM (once Compru). If, in three or four months the swallow is still problematic, I should be going back to them to get a fresh view on the situation.

2. Dr. Williams prescribed prevacid to get the reflux under control. We'll give that a try for a couple of months. If that doesn't address the problem, then he may need to 'scope me (or refer me to a gastroenterologist) to find out what's going on there. He, initially, thinks that its probably just a by-product of the new swallow challenge.

3. It sounds like the tongue issues are all part and parcel of the lingual nerve repairing itself. He seems quite confident that over time it will all be back to normal. Yay!

4. Intermittent coughing. He believes that it may be part of the reflux issue. But as he was talking about all of that, he wrote up an order for a chest x-ray.

5. Hiccups, burping (gas) he put down as part of the reflux issue as well. We had another discussion about the serious hiccups I had while in hospital (vegas nerve silliness), and he introduced the name of another nerve, which I promptly forgot... and I also have forgotten part of the conversation around the hiccups. But there isn't a huge concern there...

6. I did not tell him that the guy he referred me to was 'inadequate'. I just pointed out that my hearing is back to about 90% and let it go at that.

7. We had a 'light bulb' moment around the joint/muscle pain; I could be suffering from something to do with a hypo thyroid. I have to look this one up. Apparently, when we factor in a few of the other items on the list, the joint pain can actually point to thyroid issues. This little syndrome could account for a number of the other wee challenges that I've been facing, not the least of which is fatigue and some motivational issues. He has ordered a series of blood tests...

8. The lump in my neck which is the transplanted saliva gland will not shrink much more that it has already. Damn. We could start looking into cosmetic surgery, but what's the point?
Vanity?

So, generally then, things are in good shape. We'll get the reflux contained, and investigate the thyroid.

...and its snowing!

There are some things that I just hate to be right about. This morning, it snowed, hard. Big, wet, heavy flakes of snow. It obscured my view of the High Level Bridge from the office window at the Terrace Building. And as I watched it falling a co-worker reminded me that I had predicted another heavy snowfall by April 15th...

There are some things that I just hate to be right about.

...and did I mention...

And have I mentioned that its been confirmed that I have TWO pregnant daughters? It appears that they are due within a month/six weeks of each other...

Spring MUST be here...

Today I got out my motorcycle, washed it, gassed it up, drove it for about an hour. Spring must be here...

...the reality of mortality creeping closer...

Well, I guess that it really can't be ignored any longer. We need better maintenance. We're starting to wear out. The warranties have expired. I'm getting older. Those around me are getting older. As we get older, we start to wear out. And yes, getting sick is just another way of wearing out...

This past year I lost an aunt... the third member of my parents' generation to move on. Two uncles, and an aunt. We start thinking about, planning about how we'll deal with it when our parents are gone. But on some level that's expected. We expect our parents to go before us. Its when our friends, our contemporaries start to falter that uncertainty sets in.

My illness made a lot of the people I know take pause. I never really understood it. In my naivete, it never occurred to me that I could have died from the cancer. Typical. I just didn't get it.

Somewhere in the time line that chronicles my illness, there was a blip that marked the heart attack of an actor we know. He lived. That was startling. (The attack, not the surviving!)

About ten days ago, another actor/musician/comedian of our acquaintance died of a heart attack at 41 years old.

We have recently learned of another actor who has been diagnosed with lung cancer; we're told that it is decidedly terminal, though we can't find anyone who can say anything about it with any technical certainty. I suppose that because we (or at least me!) has been through something similar, I want to be told about it in language with a bit of certainty. You know, one of those 'it fits in this box' kinda of discussions. I'm a little disheartened on his behalf because of the fatalism in the conversations I've read on line... people have him dead and buried, but haven't been presenting the backup information. What stage is the cancer at? What have the doctors actually said? Is there any sort of treatment protocol planned?

Okay, so where am I going with this line of thought? 'Not sure, really.

So the warranties on my generation have now expired. Okay. What now? Maintenance. Good maintenance. Regular checkups. Awareness of changes.

Hmmm... I may have to come back to this post to reframe it a bit. It's coming off a bit depressed; I'm not being depressed, just thoughtful...

Happy Anniversary; Happy Birthday

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary. 56 years. Not bad in this day and age. Although I suspect that the real accomplishment is getting through the first 30...

Today is also my Dad's birthday. He's had his share of challenges over the years and managed them all fairly well with my mother's not inconsiderable help; a small brain tumour (acoustic nueroma? I never get that right!), prostate cancer, terrible problems with his teeth, an ongoing structural issue with his bladder/urethra, and three sisters...

They say that if you can get through your fifties, you are in it for the long haul.