Long term Memory is fine...

Yes, what has happened recently is classed as a form of stroke;  hemorrhagic. This was a 'bleed' rather than a clot... so what happened was that blood pooled in my brain and caused a bit of bruising.  As of this past Friday's CT scan, the blood has been absorbed, most of the swelling has gone down, and there is some minimal residual bruising (edema).
But let me just assure my friends and acquaintances that my memory is functioning nearly perfectly.  I still remember where all the bodies are buried, and what shoes you were wearing at the time....

;)

DAVFs

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/specialty_areas/cerebrovascular/conditions/arteriovenous_fistula_davf.html

Follow the link to some really interesting information about what's going on with me lately...  more later.

Watch out for DAVFs!! Sneaky things...Yes, it means I had a stroke!!

After all my successes with the cancer, a DAVF snuck up on me and ruptured!  A 'bleed on the brain' is no fun at all.  At least it hasn't left any permanent or significant damage.... or at least it hasn't been identified as such yet.  We're still assessing the damage and the implications.

Okay, so what the heck am I talking about?

On November 5, 2013, weeks away from the six anniversary of the surgical intervention for my cancer, I had a STROKE that was due to a spontaneous (non-traumatic) right temporal-parietal lobe haemorrhage.  They did a 'fix' through a post right arteriovenous fistula embolization to prevent recurrent haemorrhage.  They performed this procedure within two days.

Time for all you folks who have had work done on their heads and necks to get checked for DAVFs.  Ya, I know, just one more thing to be worried about.

Anniversaries...

Four years ago yesterday a surgical team specializing in 'head and neck' exorcised (love that word!) a demonic stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma from my right tonsil. They executed a mandibular swing to get at all the nasty bits and effect a clean neck dissection, removed a piece of the tongue, and all the lymph nodes. A 'forearm flap' technique was used to reconstruct the back of my throat and tongue, including the use of the radial artery from my left arm to replace the vascular plumbing affected by the tumour. And while they had everything disassembled, they moved salvia glands from the right quandrant to the lower left in an effort to protect them from the yet-to-be-administered radiation treatments. And today, four years on, I have so little to complain about that it just sounds like whining.

Okay, so I admit to wearing high collars, and loud ties to distract from the visible scarring, which is minimal. Vanity has me sporting a beard to hide what I consider to be the worst of them, not that I really need much of an excuse to keep my beard. Close examination of my neck shows what appears to be the beginnings of a goiter, but that just so happens to be where those salvia glands were tucked out of harm's way; my saliva is very good. No 'dry mouth syndrome' here. The autonomic responses of the tongue are not what they used to be; it doesn't effectively 'sweep' debris from my teeth as I eat. And because of that wee reduction in functionality of the tongue, and the somewhat tighter throat, I do need additional liquids to help flush things down the slightly constricted pipes. However, I can taste...really taste. And I can talk...something which I seem to do incessantly some days. As part of my work, I occasionally present a marathon 3 day seminar; my throat and voice haven't failed me yet. My teeth are in great shape; I sacrificed only one to the mandibular swing.

So when I read through my correspondance with other throat cancer survivors and try to comprehend what some went through, and are going through, I realize that I have nothing to complain about. Absolutely nothing.

I consider myself to be very fortunate. When this damned cancer and I had our collision, I was in the right place with the right specialists close at hand. Thanks to Doctor Williams and the surgical team who have chosen to work and do their research at the University of Alberta Hospital and the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta.

And I am especially grateful to the woman I married who refused to let me ignore the symptoms...

Neglect turns into...

Not sure how it happened, the actual cause, but I recently came down with a really ugly bout of 'thrush'...the oral equivalent of candidiasis.  It was treated with a Nystatin suspension as a rinse (one of the important ingredients in Akabutu's Mouthwash), and seemed to go away after two weeks.  I hadn't used the rinse for three days when I noticed last night that the coating on my tongue is back, and small clusters of the nefarious yeast have sprung up at the back of my throat.

Damn.

Ya, I know I've neglected this blog for 9 months now... I guess I owe some major updates, don't I?  I'll get right on that... watch for new entries...

Three years since surgery, and feeling 'survivor's guilt'...

Over the weekend..well, last Friday to be more precise, I hit the 3rd anniversary of my cancer surgery.  Everything seems to be going well. Of course there are the usual bits and pieces that keep cropping up; some trouble swallowing, an unruly tongue, the slight bulge in my neck where the saliva glands were repositioned to, the white ‘flash’ on the other side of my neck that reminds me of the vascular rebuild (and possibly the cause of recent exertion headaches), the constant tightness in the right side shoulder muscles and the damned scars, too faint to be demonstrably outrageous, but not faint enough not to be slightly self conscious about. But on balance, I’m quite ecstatic with the results, and really have so little to complain about… So many who have gone through similar treatments I read of, or who I communicate with have not had the same success with the surgical option. Some lost more tissue, more bone. Some even lost their voice, the cancer silencing them. Me? Hell, I’m in fabulous shape.



I was subtly disappointed that I needed to remind my family of the date, but I didn’t push it because I find that I am a bit reluctant to celebrate the anniversary this time around. I suspect that I am suffering from ‘survivor’s guilt’. Perhaps it is about the survivors that I stay in touch with who aren’t doing quite so well. Perhaps it is because Larry Yachimec died from lung cancer just months ago. Michael Becker’s cancer has been deemed ‘terminal’, and no one really knows how long he will be with us. I am so fortunate to have walked away from the impact of this stage 4 carcinoma collision, but can’t bring myself to celebrate…