Post-Op

So, this is me immediately following surgery. Trust me, I look ALOT better than I feel in this picture. I won't bore you with details of my night in the hospital because it was fairly uneventful and, frankly, I don't remember a good bit of it. I do remember waking up feeling slightly nauseated from the anesthesia with the worst sore throat I believe I've ever had. After what I imagine was a couple of hours in post-op recovery, I was taken to a room. The rooms at Hopkins are very comfortable, not unlike dorm rooms at some colleges, and are all private with amenities such as Internet connectivity (you have to supply the laptop and Ethernet cable since wireless is not available.) Oddly, the televisions only work on a pay-by-the-day basis. Despite being relatively nicely appointed though, it was still a hospital room which means someone was still coming in to wake me up for something every two hours.

Michelle insisted on staying the night with me despite my earlier protests. God bless her, she probably got less sleep than I did.

Entirely too early the following morning, a team of 5 or 6 doctors, not including Dr. Califano, came in for their rounds. They noted my condition, asked me a few questions and then off they went. One of the doctors did stay to ask my consent for a blood test to determine if I had something called Fanconi's Anemia. I won't get into the details of what this is but it's not good. You can find the Wiki definition HERE. This doctor then proceeded to tell me that I shouldn't worry because it's so highly unlikely that I have this disease that he didn't even want to tell me what it is. Of course I insisted, however, and he came back with a printout description of it. The blood test takes about 5 days so I should know by the time I go back to Dr. Califano for my follow up next week.

It is now Saturday, July 22, 2006 - 72 hours since my surgery. I generally feel like I've been hit by a bus but I think that is partly due to me trying to overdo it a bit today. My throat still feels like everything I swallow has been wrapped in razor wire and doused with habenero sauce. But I'm still here so things could be worse.

Here is a picture of my incisions (yes, there are two. The one on top goes behind my left ear up to my scalp.) :




Besides the incisions, I have two drainage tubes inserted into my chest for the drainage of blood and lymph fluid. The tubes are connected at the bottom to two rubber recepticals which must be emptied every four hours or so. I have to measure the fluid collected from each tube before emptying them and record the amounts in a journal. Once the amount collected over a 24 hour period falls below approximately 30ml, I can have the tubes removed. This usually takes a few days at least. Here is a picture of the tubes:


My son, who is really into Star Wars right now, asked me if I was going to be Darth Vader. I think he was a little freaked out by my appearance.

Other effects from surgery - I have considerable numbness on the left side of my head and neck and my left shoulder. I can't feel my left ear. There is some weakness in my left shoulder but it's not bad. I am, however, experiencing some minor paralysis in the left half of my lower lip. If I try to show my bottom teeth, I can only lower the right side of my lip so I look kind of like Rocky Balboa. It doesn't really bother me except that it has gotten in the way while eating and I think it has slightly affected my speech. Hopefully, this is only temporary.

By all accounts, the surgery went well. Dr. Califano spoke to Michelle as soon as it was over and was very optimistic. They were able to confirm that the spot on the back of my tongue was the originating tumor site and because it was so small, he commented that he could have very well gotten the whole thing just from the biopsy.

My next appointment with Dr. Califano is on Monday to have the drainage tubes removed and go over the results of the surgery. At this point, I'm feeling good. Stiff and sore, but good.