Surgery tomorrow!!!

Woo Hoo!!! I can not WAIT until tomorrow morning's
over!! I am ready to get this thing outta my mouth!
I'm supposed to report to the hospital at 5:30 a.m.,
so my good friend Terri Baird is picking me up at 5:00
a.m. (won't have to worry about traffic at that time,
for sure!).

I should be in for surgery by 7:30 a.m., and it could
take up to 4 hours.

I must be experiencing God's grace, because last week,
when I was looking ahead to this nite, I was expecting
to be bouncing off the walls and needing a strong dose
of valium by now. But I'm actually excited about
getting in first thing in the a.m. - means I won't
have to wait too long on an empty stomach ;-). And I'm
sure things'll be happening so fast I won't have time
to get nervous. (At least I hope so ;-).

They expect I'll be in a couple nites, so might be out
by Sat., and then I'll go spend a few days with the
Bairds before returning home to finish my
recuperation.

I'm bummed I haven't had a chance to post more - time
has been in short supply lately. There's SO much I
could write about. But I do want to say a great big
THANK-YOU to all of my friends from work and church,
and family, who have been praying for me and sending
emails of encouragement (or phone calls). I couldn't
have made it this far, still sane, without you!!

I'm posting below an edited version of a (long) email
I sent my family on Monday nite. It's got some
detailed info, so you might find it interesting. Stay
tuned for more updates on this site after I'm up and
about and able to get to a computer!

Thanks again for everyone's prayers!

------------------------------------------------------

Monday, April 3, 2006

Hi Dear Family,

Sorry I haven't kept in better touch - I'm sure I owe
some folks emails! Thanks for your various msgs -
this will most likely have to suffice as a reply for a
while. (Sorry I missed your calls tonite, Ann - I got
home late from work, trying to tie things up before I
left).

Several have asked for the hospital address. This is
what I've found in my paperwork:

Kaiser Permanente Hospital - Los Angeles
4867 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027-5969

I'll have to see if I can find a general hospital
phone number - I'll let you know. [It's 323-783-4011]

...

Here's my cell phone - you can try text-messaging me
after I'm out of the hospital (I don't think I'll get
any reception while I'm there):
626-818-4520

(If you don't know what 'text-messaging' is, then you
probably can't do it. ;-) You need a cell phone to do
it with.)
[Actually, I found a web site you can use:
http://www.mymmode.com/messagecenter/init.do]

I'm hoping I'll be able to be up & about within a few
days and check my email, so hopefully you won't have
to wait too long to hear from me.

My leave starts on Wed., 'cuz of my pre-op meeting
with the surgeon, but I decided to take tomorrow off
from work, too - I've just got too much to do to get
ready! Still have lots of notes to read, forms to
fill out, lists to make and check-off, provisions to
lay up, errands to run, etc etc. So hopefully between
Tues & Wed I can get at least the really important
stuff done.

My surgery is sometime Thurs. morning - time still
tbd. I was told last Fri. that there's a 2-hour
surgery before mine [it was cancelled - woo hoo!], and
that should start at 7:30, so
I probably won't get in until 10'ish. And it's
supposed to be about 4 hours.

Here are some updates from the past week:

Last Wed. I met w/ a bunch of folks for pre-op: 2
internists (did an EKG - ok; took more blood - ok;
checked me over - in good health, ready for surgery);
an anesthesiologist (her only concern was if my cold
got worse, they might need to postpone surgery); a
nurse educator (info on where to go, what to do
morning of surgery, etc.; she gave me some 'dish' on
my surgeon - says he's real nice, is married w/ 3 or 4
kids; one of his kids had come in for surgery ;-). I
think I was also supposed to meet w/ an admittance
guy, but he'd started his daily phone calls already
(I'll get a call from him on Wed. with the time I'm
supposed to arrive for surgery).

I was also going to give a pint of blood for my
surgery that day (they encourage autologous giving),
but the lady who interviewed me had concerns about my
cough. I couldn't be certain that my phlegm was clear
yet, and she said if I still had an infection, then it
would be in my blood (duh! never thought of that!),
and then I'd re-infect myself. So she encouraged me
to put it off a day or so. I told her I was coming
back down on Friday for my meeting w/ the surgeon, so
she said fine - that was the last day I could give (I
would need a week to recover before surgery).

Oh! I need to mention that my friend Diane Hannula
drove me that day - what a blessing! I'd been keyed
up all morning (don't really know why - I didn't think
there was really anything to be nervous about). But
as soon as she stopped by, I felt much better! It was
SO good to have someone with me! She waited in the
waiting room during my various meetings (I was in and
out), and helped keep my mind preocupied w/ 'other'
things. I also ended up having dinner w/ her & her
family (her husband Steve cooked his famous pancakes
;-). ...

I was going to go to work for a full day on Thurs.
(the first day in ages!), but ended up staying home.
I just felt like I might have pushed myself a little
too much Wed. nite, and wasn't feeling so hot. I
HATED to use up another vacation day, but it just
wasn't worth risking a relapse, so I rested a bit.

Unfortunately, I didn't get my act together in time to
get info on how others could donate blood for me (some
friends had asked about it), so I didn't get that info
until Fri. morning. Nurse Anthony (the guy
coordinating my case) told me he thought Fri. was the
last day anyone could give for me, and he gave me the
Blood Donor Center #. I tried it for about 20
minutes, but kept getting redirected to the Kaiser
operator. They finally found out the center was
closed for the day due to a blood drive somewhere
else!! I was so peeved, especially since I'd just
been there on Wed. and talked to the lady about coming
in on Friday. So I wasn't able to give at all (aw
shucks!! ;-). But really, I did want to give -
another fear to conquer and all that... ;-) Plus a
relatively safe source of blood. Oh well... another
time. :-) (Oh, and it turns out that folks had until
today, Mon., to give for me - so I let people know,
but don't know if anyone was able to give).

So I only made it in to work for about an hour that
day (Fri.) before I had to leave for my first meeting
w/ the surgeon. My friend Cheryl Curran went w/ me
again (she went w/ me on Monday, too) - she's GREAT at
taking notes and asking good questions. And Rosalie,
my nurse friend, met us there again, too. She knows
Dr. Lueg (my surgeon) and has high regard for him.

It was good to meet him - he's really nice and laid
back. We got to see my CT scan, he examined me
briefly, he described some of the procedure they're
going to do (hey Carolyn, my scar's going to be even
longer than I thought! from below my ear, down my
neck, to just up & under my chin!). He says I should
be able to talk even the first nite after surgery -
though I'll sound like I have a hot potato in my
mouth! And I should be up & about by the next day, if
not that nite.

They'll be removing the tumor and at least 1cm of
tissue around it. They'll be testing the margins
during surgery (sending them off to pathology) to make
sure he's getting as clean a cut as possible (ie,
cancer-free), so that was encouraging. But the final
pathology report for both the tumor and the lymph
nodes won't be ready until a week later (doomsday).

I learned that the CT scan only shows tumors that are
at least the size of your pinky, so there's still a
15% chance it's spread to my lymph nodes - that's why
they're recommending the neck dissection, just to be
sure. That way they can do the microscopic
evaluation. If my tumor was a little smaller, then it
wouldn't be as big a deal - but I guess it's
borderline T-2 now.

He says I'll be amazed at the size of the hole in my
tongue! :-( He says the tongue just kind of opens up
- and they don't suture it up; it's cauterized as they
cut it. But that way, apparently it fills back in
over time! I guess it takes about a year for full
recovery. But he doesn't think I'll have any problems
speaking - I'll adapt. And they do have speech
therapists available if I feel the need for one.

And he'll be using titanium staples on my neck! With
no bandages or dressing! I get them removed after a
week. (I asked him if I'd look like Frankenstein!
Wouldn't it be a riot if someone glued fake bolts to
the side of my neck as a joke in recovery? ;-) I
just better be able to get them out before Easter!
They just wouldn't go w/ an Easter dress ;-).

Well, I could probably keep rambling on, but you'll be
bored by now, and I have to clear off my bed still!
..

Thanks for all your love & support! I
feel it!!

Love,
Liz