Base of Tongue Surgery, January 16, 2012

I got married on January 16th, 2011.
(Details can be found on my wife's website at http://thevintageword.com/2011/12/28/love-and-weddings/)

One year later, I was being wheeled into the operating room for the first of two surgeries to remove the cancer from the base of my tongue. This first surgery took nearly five hours, but the surgical team spent a lot of this time just waiting for pathology reports to come back. They removed the tumor and a little of the surrounding tissues, sent it to pathology, waited, and got back a report showing that there were still cancerous cells present. So they removed a bit more, sent that to pathology, waited some more and finally got back a report that all was clean. In addition to the cancerous tissue, they had to remove my right tonsil because it was pressing up right against the tumor. 

I was wheeled into my room in the ICU at 4PM; the surgery had started at 9:30AM. I had a feeding tube in one nostril and a breathing tube in the other, and I was heavily sedated. That was Monday.

I woke up on Wednesday the 18th. At first I thought it was still Monday - I could see the clock reading a little past 10. Was it possible that they had done everything in a little over an hour? At that point, I had a coughing fit that dislodged my breathing tube. I won't go into gross details, but pretty soon the breathing tube was out and I was awake and breathing on my own. And I learned that it was Wednesday! I had no idea that my wife had visited me the day before.

I stayed in ICU until Thursday, and finally left the hospital on Saturday with the feeding tube still in place.

That first week home was difficult. It was next to impossible to swallow anything; liquids came right back out my nose which was very frustrating. At least I had the feeding tube in my nose. I "ate" by pouring small cans of a vanilla supplement drink into a large syringe attached to the loose end of the tube. I held up the syringe and liquid gravity-fed from the tube up through my nose, down my esophagus and into my stomach. It sounds weird, but it wasn't that difficult. I didn't have any real problems with it. Eight cans a day - that was my food. I also munched on ice chips.

I took liquid antibiotics and liquid hydrocodone for pain via the tube as well. I can tolerate a fair amount of pain but I have to say that wasn't the biggest annoyance I had. The pain was manageable. What drove me up the wall was not being able to swallow, not even my own saliva! I had to get a suction machine to help remove the excess.

I had to sleep in a large overstuffed chair. I tried lying in bed propped up on pillows, but I began choking the minute my head drooped forward. I became a cat-napping expert.

All of this started to wear thin after a short time. I wanted to eat again, so I starting with soft foods like cream of wheat, applesauce, apple juice, and jello. Ice cream and pudding didn't work too well at first - they tended to make me produce more saliva which was the last thing I needed. Food would often "stick" in my throat - I wondered if I had damaged my vocal cords during the breathing tube episode. I saw my surgeon on the 25th, four days after being home. He said everything was progressing well and to be patient.

I've never really been known for my patience, but I started to see small improvements every day. I kept the feeding tube until February 1st, but I had stopped using it by the time it was finally removed.

That night I slept in a bed for the first time in weeks. It was wonderful!

I finally felt that I had turned the corner, and started eating a greater variety of foods, including soups, chicken and gravy, scrambled eggs and even a hamburger (without the bun). Liquids were still a challenge and often came right back out my nose, but there was no question that I was improving.

Before I knew it, it was time for the second surgery to remove the cancerous lymph nodes.