Home Sweet Home

I got home from the hospital on Saturday August 15th, one week after the procedure. Although this was suppose to be a minimally evasive procedure we had some hiccups along the way. The typical stay the doctors said was 2-4 days depending on how the incision site drained. So, worst case scenario we should have been out of there by Wednesday. Wednesday rolled around and the drain had lost suction and wasn't producing anything so instead of believing that the incision site was clear they elected to hook me up to wall suction. It is our opinion that with this wall suction, which was stronger than the manual drain suction the drain itself likely attached to a blood vessel and irritated it. Wednesday afternoon the drain site began to bleed but not into the drain but out the side of my chest, the doctors and nurses elected to watch it til Thursday morning, where at which time they made the decision to pull the drain. Upon removing the drain from my neck the incision site continued to bleed, a lot. Later in the afternoon the doctors attempted to stop the bleeding by using a surgical application called surgicell which was to clot the site. Instead of bleeding out of the wound I continued to bleed which ballooned my neck into a Hematoma, my neck swelled up considerably and it was difficult to move. Thursday night the on-call doctor visited my room and opened up the hole which was closed earlier in the day to allow all of the fluids to come out and remove the pressure on my neck, to do this he had to make the hole larger in my neck.



Because of this I have to have the dressing on the wound changed twice a day, once by a visiting nurse and the other time Jamie dons her nurses outfit and does it. It is somewhat like playing the game operation for she has to swab the hole in my chest and then pack it with a gauze strip to collect any fluids draining, I am lucky that Jamie has a strong stomach and can manage doing this without feeling sick. If the roles were reversed I might feel a bit queezy.



A crazy ordeal but at least we are through it.

We finally got the pathology on the lymph nodes which were removed and they all came back negative, meaning no cancer which is a relief.

Left Neck Lymph Node Dissection

Well, the procedure went well on Saturday August 8th. We are just now waiting for the incision site to stop draining. I currently have a drain sticking out of my neck. Once the draining slows down I should be discharged. The neck was sore for the first couple of days but has been feeling pretty good. The healing process has been slowed a bit because when they get to the lymph nodes they do have to cut through tendons and this can produce "kile" in the area vacated by the lymph nodes. To alleviate this the doctor has put me on a low fat diet with no meats allowed. I've cut some weight since being here. Just wanted to give a quick post as to where things are at, Jamie and I are optimistic I will get discharged tomorrow or Thursday.

Wed. July 22nd

Well, it is good to be back home with Jamie and in familiar surroundings. Today I am going to be headed up to a satellite facility to Sloan-Kettering in Basking Ridge, NJ. This location was recommended to me by the other two guys, (Nick and Hiram) whom I met up in New York City and they said it to be more convenient and closer than going all the way into the city.

I have to get labwork done today along with a CT Scan. From the CT Scan they will be making a determination if anything additional needs to be done with my procedure for the left neck lymph node dissection on Aug 8th.

I will be having pre-admissions testing performed in NYC next Thursday which will require a trip into the city. That is pretty much where all of the treatment stands at this point. I can't explain how nice it is to be home.

A quick note to Tommie and Laurie Davis, I got your package and the Shawnee Mission West T-Shirt fits fine and in fact I have already worn it. It isn't quite as "soft" as my 16-year old shirt but I will be sure to break it in. Thanks.

Update

I haven't posted for a few days because there hasn't been any real new news. It now has been set that the next step that needs to be done is having the lymph nodes dissected from the left of my neck. I was in hopes of getting it done soon. The procedure for the left neck lymph node dissection has been set for Saturday August 8th. I have a couple of appointments between now and then but mostly will be awaiting to get this done and once done a follow up CT Scan to allow my doctor to review my scan to make sure all is clean. If this is the case then next steps would be follow-up doctors visits and tests to make sure all remains clear.

B-I-N-G-O

Well, it has come down to this. Last night my Dad and I went to the Bingo and Pizza party down on the 6th floor of the Hope Lodge. The people at the lodge played some games that really confused some of the people here. They played a: ("T", "X", "+", "U" and many others). We had people at our table who actually claimed they didn't know how to play BINGO.

Anyway, the real story was my Dad who cleaned up winning three times last night taking home a collection of chatzke items: a pewter salt and pepper shaker, 2 decks of playing cards and poker chips, and a duffel bag. My Dad was glowing ear to ear claiming he has never won at BINGO in his life. Well, he made up for it last night.

I still haven't gotten a call from the surgeons office as to scheduling my left neck lymph node dissection. They will be getting a call from me today.

In a Holding Pattern

We have met with the Head and Neck doctor and he is in agreement with Dr. Feldman's initial recommendation. He said that for him it is a more minor surgery than what he normally performs, but that he typically does about 100 of these procedures a year. I don't know what he was looking for but he stuck a scope far down my nose and in my throat yesterday, my Dad said that he was able to see it on the TV screen attached to the scope. The doctor asked if I had any questions and my main one was, "How soon can we get this done?" Dr. Kraus said that he would have his secretary call me in the next couple of days to schedule the procedure. He said that it would likely be scheduled in the next couple of weeks.

I also had labwork done yesterday and received a phone call from Dr. Feldman late in the day with encouraging words, my counts are all starting to come back and more than anything he was happy to see that the Creatinine number which he has been so closely watching came down again from 2.2 to 1.9. This number is a reflection of my kidney functions. Although still high it is coming more into where my initial baseline was of around 1.5.

So at this point we are waiting to get a surgery date for this lymph node removal and also the dates and times for the pre-admission testing that accompanies it.

Dad Settling In...

Dad has settled in here at the Hope Lodge and is helping me clean my cupboards of all of the food I have stored in them. It seems to rain every day here in New York. I can't wait to leave this city, although I don't know when that is going to be. Dad and I met with Dr. Feldman yesterday and the CT Scan shows the lymph nodes in my neck did take to the chemo having shrunk some. Dr. Feldman believes this to be the root cause of why my tumor markers went up. To correct this I will likely be having surgery to have these removed. We have a consultation with the head and neck doctor next Monday to get his opinion and if it is to be removed schedule a date....the sooner the better.

Nothing else new here, have a good 4th of July.