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| May 31, 2006 - Our surgery is scheduled for June 6 (Tuesday). Charlie has to check in at 6am and surgery will begin at 7-7:30 am. He has not been eating either, I am not sure why but he says no when I ask him to try things. He started out well with apple sauce, jello, and some mashed potates, then on Saturday we were on the run all day and he didn't have anything by mouth then Sunday he got sick right after I gave him breakfast and he hasn't had any interest since then. He was retching so hard that he actually pulled a muscle in his back, we had to take him in today to get a muscle relaxer because it just was not getting any better. I am sure he is getting tired of me trying to push food on him plus always asking him if he feels okay. Charlie has a CAT scan on Friday so we will be heading to Ann Arbor when I get out of work then we are hoping to get some fishing and ball games in over the weekend then back to Ann Arbor Monday evening to be there for the surgery Tuesday. We are looking forward to surgery and getting that and recovery behind us. We have actually heard about a woman from the Clare area that had the same surgery 13 years ago and her children say you wouldn't know. She only had surgery and never went through radiation or chemo. My Aunt Alice had a surgery kind of like this too - it's nice to know that other people have had this experience and are okay. We believe that everything will be great once we get beyond this next step. As always thanks for the thoughts, prayers, phone calls, and cards!!! They mean so much!!! | ||||||||||||
| June 7, 2006 - Charlie came through surgery pretty well yesterday (maybe I should say today) He did not get out of surgery until almost midnight last night then we got to see him about 1 am when they were putting him in his room. The doctor says they are pretty confident they removed all of it. The tumor was bigger then expected, the doctor said it had grown considerably just in the last 2 weeks since he was here for surgery before. They had to remove more on the inside of his mouth than they thought they would. The tumor had grown right to his voicebox but they were able to save it. He will not be able to use it for a while because he has a trach in so he will be comunicating using a dry erase board.(He is breathing on his own but they will leave it in because of swelling). Because they had to rebuild such a big area in the back of his mouth they did a skin transplant instead of a graft (which means they had to have blood vessels to reconnect too). Because the area they took the transplant from was fatty and swollen they were not able to close the break in his jaw, when they would try it would cut off circulation to the transplant, he will have another surgery next week to close the break.The trach will be in until after the next surgery. He still has the feeding tube and there is a chance that he may never be able to swallow right - time will tell. The cancer had spread to the right side of his neck but they did not have to remove as much from that side. On the left side they removed the large muscle, the jugular vein, along with the lymph nodes and fatty tissue - the doctor did not say anything about removing the big nerve that helps move the shoulder so I will have to ask about that. All in all things went well - he looked good when we saw him last night - swollen but good. He will be in for 2 weeks instead of 1 since he has to have another surgery then the road to recovery. If you would like to send him a card the address is University Hospital, Attn: Charlie Ley, Flr 4 - Rm 4418, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, Ann Arbor 48109. Will add more later. E-mail questions and I will answer and if I can't I am sure I can find someone that can!!! Keep praying!! Thanks | ||||||||||||
| June 8, 2006 (Please note the updated address above) Charlie is doing great, they just gave him a bed bath and got him in a chair. He was in a chair already yesterday morning before I got back to the hospital!!! Won't be long and we will be strolling around the hospital. He had 2 drains removed already today (he is now down to 4), they took him off the pain pump and are just giving him medicine through his tube. He will be losing his cath this morning also. The swelling is going down and the nurses are impressed. So is the doctor - we saw him yesterday afternoon and he said everything looks good just waiting on the pathology reports. In a couple more days they will be putting in a smaller trach and then Charlie will be able to talk - the doctor was explaining everything to Charlie yesterday and he told Charlie that he wouldn't be able to talk for a few days and that the family thanked him - We all got a good laugh out of that and Charlie even tried to smile. Charlie is communicating using hand jestures and eye movements, he is also writing a little. He is fighting hard to get back on his feet - he is a good patient. I will update again tomorrow unless there is more news today. God Bless! | ||||||||||||
| June 10, 2006 Good Morning! What a busy couple of days!! Charlie is walking the halls - he went about 3 times yesterday. He also has seen a physical therapist and has exercises to do on top of the breathing exercises we need to do every hour. Sorry about no update yesterday but I don't think we had a spare minute.The nurses came in every hour to check his transplant site and to suction his trach, but starting last night that changed to every 2 hours. Charlie is a little sleep deprived! Everything is looking good. The doctors says he did not have to take out the nerve in Charlie's neck but that it is probably stunned right now and will take some time to get working right again. He thinks he will have the pathology report on Monday or Tuesday. Right now he is thinking Thursday for surgery but if things keep going well that could get bumped to Tuesday (which would put us home by the weekend!!). The OTO resident came in this morning and said she thought surgery would be Tuesday - hip hip hooray!! Charlie wants to me add that he says thanks for the thoughts and prayers they are appreciated!! He gave me (and himself) a scare this morning, we were going to go for a walk down the hall and made it as far as our door and he started coughing. We are not sure if he had a plug in his trach or if he had asperated some liquid but he couldn't catch a breath. I think it scared our nurse a little too when she couldn't get it cleared right away. Charlie asked the resident about getting in a wheelchair and going outside today and she agreed so we will be hitting the garden area this afternoon when it warms up a little (hopefully they have portable suction for me to take after this mornings little heart starter!!). Charlie's room has to stay at 78 degrees for the transplant site to heal well so we are not used to the 60 degree temps of the morning. Will add more later - time for a breathing treatment!! Thanks again! | ||||||||||||
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