All I want for Chrsitmas is...

I remember singing this children's song when I was, well, a kid:

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"

Today my wish came true in a bigger way than that.  I jut got back from the prothodontist after having SEVEN new bottom teeth installed on a removable denture.  It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but here they are.

I lost five teeth in the 2014 jaw resection and two more in the 2015 follow up procedure, so it's been two and a half years since I've had any teeth on my bottom left side.  There is already an improvement in the clarity of my speech, and I should be able to eat a little bigger variety of food--and will test that out in this holiday season.  My food choices will always be determined mostly by what I can swallow, but now I can at least chew some things better.

I had hoped this would be the final chapter in my recovery from the 2009 cancer and treatments, but it will be back to Dr. Roser soon to see about having some plastic surgery to tighten my lower lip and to permanently remove the hair growing on my gums.

But, today is a good day, and it comes almost exactly 8 years after our journeys in Cancer World started.  At this time in 2008 we were told my jaw pain problems were not dental in nature.  We had been referred to the ENT who first suspected I had cancer and we were waiting on our first appointment with him--which took place on Christmas Eve.  As they say, after that the rest is history.

So, we are in a much better state of mind this year, as we get ready for the holidays, and look forward to the New Year.  A New Year, by the way, that will start with my official retirement day of January 1.

As always, thanks for checking the blog from time to time, and letting us know you are still pulling for Team Mike.  Be sure to check back often in 2017, as I write the book.  I definitely want to include Team Mike members in it, so will ask you to share some of your thoughts with me.

Mike