Monday, May 23, 2011

Surgery scheduled

I saw Dr. Merati, the ENT at UW who will be doing my surgery.  The doctors and staff at UW could not have been nicer and when I explained that I wanted to have the surgery before my daughter left for her residency on June 7, they spent the morning pulling out all the stops for me to make it happen.  So many, many thanks to them.  It is scheduled for May 31st. 

As always, there is some caution here.  Dr. Merati has done this surgery (the implant is called a 'thyroplasty') over 300 times and he is confident that it will improve my voice significantly.  However, my breathing problems are not a standard presentation--something is not making sense in my reporting of the significant  breathing difficulties I am having upon exertion because most of the video taken in last week's endoscopy, show the airway fairly unrestricted.  So Dr. Merati wants to include  a neck scan in my ct scans as well. One thing that could have happened is that the original Radiesse injection could have moved further down into the windpipe.  In that case, it would be a nasty surprise because it would entail further surgical procedures, so the ct scan should help to determine if that is a problem.  

Dr. Merati was also interested in the fact that at least a year before the cancer was diagnosed, I was having swallowing difficulties and he wants to pin that down a bit better before surgery.  So tomorrow at 9:30 am I am back at UW for a swallow test with Ginger.  This means no food or liquids (including water!) after midnight. I will have to call upon my early  first communion training in the Catholic Church to make it through this privation......

Pre anesthesia on Thursday and a meeting with the speech pathologist on Friday.  It's going to be a very busy week.  More later. 

2 comments:

Dan Matyola said...

Regina:

I'm glad to hear that they were able to move up the surgery as you desired. How did the "swallow test" go.

My thoughts and prayers are with you, as you go through all of this, and all your many friends and supporters wish for the best possible outcome. I know you are strong, and will come through this as you have come through so many difficulties in the past.

Live Strong!

Dan

Anonymous said...

My thoughts are with you tomorrow Regina as they have been and will continue to be.

Looking forward to your post-surgery post.

- Leslie