My Wife Nancy

[natemoen]

So sorry to hear this TC. Hopefully there was good news from the pet scan.

Thoughts and prayers to you both!

[2manybikes]

Best wishes

Just wanted you to know, you and Nancy are still in our thoughts and prayers. Best wishes for the season, and the future.

[TopCatGr58]

Update.

Hey there folks,

The Petscan showed no signs of Metastasis, but the lymph nodes looked suspicious.

She had her surgery on Thursday(12-22), took almost 8 hours, they removed the tumor from her cheek/upper jaw and the preliminary pathology reports showed clear borders, but will know more after the final path report in a week or so. Then we will also find out if any additional treatment ie. radiation or chemo will be needed. She had/has a temporary prosthetic but it was a bit too little apparently due to having to remove more tissue to get clear borders than anticipated, she has stitches from her upper lip up along the left side of her nose to just below the eyelid, so they were able to expose the upper jaw to better access the tumor and excise it. She's on nothing by mouth status since the prosthetic isn't completely sealing up her oral cavity...so as not to get any food and such up in there that could then lead to infection, has an NG(NasoGastric) feeding tube to receive sustenance and meds. They also removed a few suspicious lymph nodes on her left side of her neck, and so she has a second ~12" incision from just below her left ear down to her adam's apple. She still has a couple of drains sutured to her neck/upper chest to help remove excess fluid that the lymph nodes can't do since they aren't there anymore.

She was able to come home Saturday. We were back in the ER Sunday because of how her NG tube was behaving, wasn't able to take much fluid very quickly, was getting esophageal reflux type symptoms, and so we were concerned that it had either slipped up/out of her stomach, had gotten a bend in it, etc.!? The Xrays showed that it was properly in place, so apparently her stomach has shrunk a bit so that it won't hold much volume, as well as the upper sphincter isn't as secure/tight, so that when the stomach get a little full, it backs up into her esophagus. We've learned to allow it to fill/flow via gravity feed instead of forcing it with the plunger of the 60cc syringe. Each liquid meal is about 300 cc's and the same # of calories, and then add 20cc's of antibiotic, 15cc's of liquid pain killer, and ~20-30cc's of water to help to slightly thin out the meal solution so that it flows easier. She gets this ~4 times a day, and will for the next 2 weeks.

Her Grandson came over Sunday pm for our modest Xmas dinner....all store bought/prepared at Harris Teeter and then I just warmed it up in the microwave, had Turkey breast, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, sweet/English peas, and pumpkin pie....lost the can of cranberry sauce somewhere!? It wasn't bad at all despite not being home cooked.

So....we had as good of a Christmas as we could have under the circumstances, and so hopefully it'll just get better from here.

Thanks again to everyone for their well wishes/prayers, and we hope that everyone out there in XS Land also had a Merry Christmas and a better upcoming New Year.

T.C.

[3Phase]

Right on! That is great news and makes a very merry Christmas indeed!

[motoman]

Definitely a positive up-date T.C.! The new year oughta' be lookin' better for the both of you!.

[Bonz]

Thanks for the update and info on what she had done. I'm glad you guys had as good a Christmas as you could. :-) They are very particular about clear margins, that's really good news to hear.

[Radioguylogs]

Hey there folks,

...and so hopefully it'll just get better from here.


T.C.

That's the part we so desperately want to get to in these matters....the part where it finally starts getting better.

We pray it works out that way.

Thank you for the update. We have been thinking about you and Nancy.

[Jerry]

Thanks for the update, TC. Hope the recovery goes quickly..it is sometimes amazing how the body can recover from such trauma. Best to you both for the coming months!

[madmax-im]

TC...glad to hear Nancy is on the mend.. i am still offering my prayers for you all for a complete recovery and for Happy New Year !

[Old Red]

TC we are praying that we keep getting good news, praying for you and Nancy.

[Rasputin]

Sorry to hear this news TC. Squamish is serious stuff and I know due to personal circumstances. My Brother had a 5% chance of living when he was diagnosed. He was looked after quickly and with great care and he is now cancer free for over 6 years. So chin up and hope for the best for both you and Nancy.

[Brent]

TC Prayers for Y'all

TC we are praying that we keep getting good news, praying for you and Nancy.

Thinking of you & wishing well. This will be as challenging and take longer than making your own rainsuit and riding through a torrential downpour thunderstorm. But I have faith that you can do it.

Take care of yourself too.
Brent

[MarkD]

Thanks for the update, TC. All the best wishes for you and Nancy. Looking like the rough part is over, now comes the healing, and.... we all know that women are tougher than men , so my money's on a full recovery!

[TopCatGr58]

2nd update

Hey folks,

Okay, she had her first P.O. visit yesterday, both with the Orthoprosthedontists, as well as her ENT Oncologist. They Ortho doc first removed the 2 x 0.75" long screws that were holding the prosthetic in place against what was left of the roof/palate of her mouth. He then removed it, along with the PACKING that was wedged pretty tightly/heavily into the space left behind after the tumor removal. We think it was both the screws, the extensive packing and the prosthetic that was a little too wide rubbing against the inside of the cheek that had been worked on that was causing her so much pain for the past week. The pain meds barely seemed to touch it for a couple of hours, but she was only able to have it every 4 hours. So...she hadn't been able to sleep much at all, mostly catnaps, having to get me up at 4am to get her another dose of pain med. The prosthetic was reshaped/trimmed to reduce the pressure against her cheek, and also a softer cushion layer was placed on top of it that is next to the surgical wound area. Getting the packing out and reshaping the prosthetic had greatly reduced her pain levels, and she was actually able to sleep through the night last night. It doesn't fully close/cover the opening in the back of her throat, they don't want it fitting too tightly so that the tissue has room to grow to fill in the area to help seal the sinus cavity area. She goes back next week for another fitting adjustment.

The Oncologist visit was also very fruitful, had the staples removed from her thigh skin graft harvest site, all of the stitches from her face/neck, and the 2 JP drains from her neck....I was quite surprised to see how much flat tubing was actually up in her neck when they pulled them out! Because of the opening in her mouth/throat/sinus area, she still has the NG tube. She is scheduled for a Barium Swallow exam to see how much gets down her throat vs. flushing upwards towards her sinus/wound area when she swallows, and if most of it goes down her throat/stomach, then they will be able to remove the tube. But if she has too much sloshing around her wound area, then she'll have to keep the NG tube a bit longer.

The preliminary Pathology reports still say they had clear borders, it was a fairly large tumor, ~3cm x 5cm x 2 cm's! It was classified as a T-4 class because it had invaded the maxillary bone region, but there were no signs of CA in the lymph nodes!!!

But because of the bone invasion, he was stating that radiation therapy may be required? That will be determined later. So....several bits of good news, and she is healing well if not slowly, and am taking it a day at a time.

Thanks again in advance for the well wishes/prayers, we're hoping for the best.

T.C.

[Bonz]

That's some good news! Thank you for the report TC.