Hi everyone :)
I'm sure many of you have been eager to hear how things are going
since my surgery two weeks ago so here's an update on my life.
My surgery went well overall, no disasters or emergencies of any kind
which is always a blessing. They revised my neck incision and removed
a ton of scar tissue from that area. However, my tongue, as usual,
didn't cooperate so the game plan changed a bit. My "new" tongue
tissue was very atrophied and deflated because of radiation so there
wasn't enough tissue to attach the graft for reinforcement to. So Dr.
Cannady ended up releasing my residual tongue, so now I pretty much
have a little over half a tongue to work with. My movement is great so
far, it's just a matter of keeping it that way through lots of
exercise and practice to improve my coordination and speech.
At first I was very frustrated and questioned whether or not it was the right
choice because of all the swelling, pain, and significant decrease in
my speech and eating. Things in those areas have gotten progressively
better and Dr. Cannady is very happy with my recovery so far. I just
have to be patient (there's that stupid word again) and work hard to
make it what I want it to be and prevent the scar tissue from
reattaching. I will be restarting physical therapy at the end of the
month too so that will help significantly.
I had an MRI on Friday and saw Speech therapy and Dr. Lin yesterday.
Speech gave me an arsenal of exercises and ideas to improve my
control, coordination, and clarity of speech. There are certain sounds
I struggle with like Ds, Ts, and Gs, all of which require the tongue
to be in the right spot in the mouth. She feels I made the right
decision having surgery and will get a positive outcome from all of
this.
I saw Dr. Lin next and he must have known I was nervous because the
first words out of his mouth were "the scans were all good!" There
were no signs of disease or concern. My next pet scan is in November
and my appointments will now be four months apart instead of three.
This means I am Officially One Year CANCER FREE! I am nine months out
of treatment too which is crazy! Thank you all for the continued
prayers and positive vibes. One year down, hopefully the toughest of
them all!
Lots of love,
Devin
I'm sure many of you have been eager to hear how things are going
since my surgery two weeks ago so here's an update on my life.
My surgery went well overall, no disasters or emergencies of any kind
which is always a blessing. They revised my neck incision and removed
a ton of scar tissue from that area. However, my tongue, as usual,
didn't cooperate so the game plan changed a bit. My "new" tongue
tissue was very atrophied and deflated because of radiation so there
wasn't enough tissue to attach the graft for reinforcement to. So Dr.
Cannady ended up releasing my residual tongue, so now I pretty much
have a little over half a tongue to work with. My movement is great so
far, it's just a matter of keeping it that way through lots of
exercise and practice to improve my coordination and speech.
At first I was very frustrated and questioned whether or not it was the right
choice because of all the swelling, pain, and significant decrease in
my speech and eating. Things in those areas have gotten progressively
better and Dr. Cannady is very happy with my recovery so far. I just
have to be patient (there's that stupid word again) and work hard to
make it what I want it to be and prevent the scar tissue from
reattaching. I will be restarting physical therapy at the end of the
month too so that will help significantly.
I had an MRI on Friday and saw Speech therapy and Dr. Lin yesterday.
Speech gave me an arsenal of exercises and ideas to improve my
control, coordination, and clarity of speech. There are certain sounds
I struggle with like Ds, Ts, and Gs, all of which require the tongue
to be in the right spot in the mouth. She feels I made the right
decision having surgery and will get a positive outcome from all of
this.
I saw Dr. Lin next and he must have known I was nervous because the
first words out of his mouth were "the scans were all good!" There
were no signs of disease or concern. My next pet scan is in November
and my appointments will now be four months apart instead of three.
This means I am Officially One Year CANCER FREE! I am nine months out
of treatment too which is crazy! Thank you all for the continued
prayers and positive vibes. One year down, hopefully the toughest of
them all!
Lots of love,
Devin
