It's been almost a month since the debridement under my chin and we are back into one of those wait-and-see periods to let the oral surgeon make his next decision. The best case scenario is that the antibiotics do their job to prevent any future infection, and that my body does its job to heal the surgical site and expel any dead bone that might have been missed. The worst case scenario is that the titanium plate in my jaw becomes infected and/or there is more ORN found. More ORN would mean that it's new ORN and on the right side of my jaw, indicating a need for a much more extensive surgery next time--maybe even a right-side resection. So, you can easily guess that we are hoping not to see any signs of infection and/or new ORN. When I ask Dr. Roser about the chances for more extensive surgery, he is honest that it's not out of the question, but is also cautiously optimistic that it won't be needed.
So, we wait, and in the meantime I deal with my limited ability to eat and chew food and try not to gross anyone out by seeing the goop coming out of the sizable hole under my chin. I change the very large band-aid several times a day so it doesn't get saturated and leak.
One other thing I'm dealing with is the need to talk very slowly and be very careful to articulate my words well. Those of you who know me best understand that I would often engage my mouth before I engaged my brain and said a lot of dumb stuff. Now it's the opposite. My brain is well ahead of my mouth because I have to think about what I want to say in order to get out every word as clearly as I can.
That officially...sa sa sa sucks.
Terry and I have stopped counting the number of people in our lives who have dealt with cancer since my onset, either as patients or caregivers. The newest person in that unknown number is Anne Culpan, the wife of Ian Culpan--my host last year at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Ian wrote recently that Anne was diagnosed with intestinal cancer and had emergency surgery right after Christmas. A large malignant tumor was removed during the surgery. We have not heard any updates yet, but Anne and Ian can sure use some Team Mike Good Vibes to help them get through this. Anne is a strong woman, with a quick wit who made us feel so much at home during our time in NZ. We took the news about her very hard.
mike
