Our Post-op trip to Upenn

Good Morning All,

Yesterday was the big day, Devin's first post-op trip to Philadelphia! She has been doing so well we were very hopeful of good news.

After an hour and 40 minute trip to the city we had our first appointment at 8:15 with Dr. Canaday the plastic surgeon who did the reconstruction. He was thrilled with Devin's progress. Her tongue and arm are both doing great and he wants her back in a month. He said he expects a great recovery especially since she is already talking and early talkers always do good as long as they do the speech therapy which we all know Devin will do great at. He is already planning a future surgery to make her tongue more mobile and as "perfect" as it can be.

We then moved on to Upenn a few miles away to Dr. Weinstein's office. They said if we came over they would try to move our late afternoon appointments up. We stopped at the Upenn pharmacy to get Devin pain meds and it was quite a relief to have them and be able to give her some right away.
 We waited for a while at Dr. Weinstein's office but it was well worth the wait. He said the pathology report was great and he couldn't be happier. The margins were good with no sign of disease and the 2 lymph nodes they were worried about show no cancer so there is no lymph involvement!!! This also means that although she will still need radiation, chemo is now off the table. After Dr. Weinsten left the room we saw Lauren the speech therapist. She did a swallow test with applesauce, apple juice both thickened and regular which Devin passed with flying colors. She gave her exercises to do and said she can start trying various smooth foods like pudding, yogurt with no fruit, applesauce, pureed foods and smoothies over the next 3 weeks. We were thrilled to say the least.

The only down side was that she still has quite a bit of swelling so the trach has to stay put for 3 more weeks until we go in for the next appointment. She was upset and when they changed it to a smaller trach she really had quite a hard time with coughing and mucus so it was a very long trip home and a rough night. I am happy to say that she is doing better this afternoon so hopefully we can put this bump in the road behind us and celebrate the good news.

We will return to Upenn in 3 weeks to see both doctors and the speech therapist. They are also making appointments around the same time for meetings with the radiation department and a dentist down there who has to see her before radiation therapy can begin. The first PET scan will be in February.

As we move forward with the next part of this journey please keep Devin in your prayers!

Hugs,
Rose