So, as I lay in bed last night for 5 long hours waiting to fall asleep, I thought that I should really update my blog. It's so few and far between that I am sure no one is reading this anyway but it is a good thing to help me remember. I know going through what I have gone through and the real truth behind recovery is something that I cannot find a darn thing via the internet or any other source. So maybe one day someone going through this will find my blog and can find some kind of commonality to help them. Or not. But either way. I should log on every day as I do with facebook and see where it takes me.
I had my last PET/CT scan done on the 26th of October and alas, they found a new tumor. But this time it was on the left side of my neck. Thankfully I would not face another round of chemo and radiation because that really is not something I want to do. I did, however, have to have surgery. The tumor was only about 1/3 of an inch big which is too small for a needle biopsy, so the only choice was surgery. So this was my Friday (Nov 12). My surgery was scheduled for 3:00 pm and I was due to arrive by 2:00 pm. Which I did and got lead into my room and told to remove all of my clothes (including underwear, I hate that...) and put on a disposable gown that was lined with plastic of all things. I didn't have to be hot to sweat from every pore that touched that damn plastic. It was quite yucky. The other great thing was that my surgery was delayed until 5 or 5:30. Awesome. So at 5:45 I decided to call the nurse and at 6:00 the orderly finally came and took me to Pre-op. Only one person was allowed with me in there so I was even more thankful that my mom was there to hang out with Ian while Chuck went into pre-op with me. We were there for another 45 minutes before they actually wheeled me into the operating room. It's an insane feeling being in there, placed on the operating table and then the next thing you know you are fast asleep. "5 minutes" later I was trying to wake up in recovery. Dr. Hunter let me know the good news that my tumor was benign so a neck dissection was not necessary. Of course this was all in a cloud for me. Very good news of course though. But it sure felt like he had taken an ice cream scoop to the inside of my neck from the jaw to my shoulder. Can't imagine what the dissection would have felt like :P Yikes! And, of course, that "5 minutes" for me was about 2 hours for my family. Ian was such a good sport the whole time. I know he was bored beyond anything but didn't complain once. I'm sure it was weird for him to see me there and even after. You could see the cut on my neck as they only put a piece of tape over my stitches. He is such a worry wart but he stayed strong and just kept giving me kisses to help me feel better. He is the best kid ever! They were going to have me stay over night but it was up to me and if I felt okay that I could go home. And that is all that I wanted to do. I took my pain med and ate some soup (because mind you, I was not allowed to eat or drink ANYTHING all day long...!). That stupid can of Campbell's vegetable soup was nearly the best thing I have ever ate ;) The nurse was satisfied that I was well enough to go home and we finally got out of there around 11:30 pm. I crashed as soon as I got into my bed. Of course, it was interrupted sleep having a cut on my neck. All the muscles in my neck were pretty sore so turning at all was painful. But I was glad to be home. I stayed on the couch all weekend, which was fine. I didn't want to go out in public with my franken-neck :P Also, I have no idea what kind of tape they used to keep my hair out of the way but it was a bitch to wash out of my hair. It took 3 washes to do it! I still can't get it all off of my neck and shoulder :P Eventually I suppose.
Until tomorrow...

Why so serious...? (It looks a lot like the Joker's smile...hehe)