How could this happen...

It started out with a cough, annoying really, no big deal. He got used to it and there were no other symptoms so getting it checked out wasn’t a priority.   After the second month, his ear started to ache a little as well, so he thought maybe he would get it checked out.   He told his wife and she started to insist he go in, just to be on the safe side.  Three weeks later, he finally went in…

He got in and saw a Dr. he told her his symptoms and when she looked in his mouth, she gasped out loud, a nervous giggle escaped him and he said, “what do you think Doc, throat cancer?”  The Dr. looked him in the eyes and said, “yes, it does look like it”. 

The surgery lasted 17 hours long.  It was performed by micro robotic surgery.  They went in through his neck, extracted a chunk of his tongue out where the tumour was plus more to ensure a safe zone.   To replace what was taken out they used muscle and skin off his forearm to repair his tongue.   To replace the muscle and tissue from his forearm, they skin grafted from his thigh.  

When he woke, he felt like a freak.  He couldn’t talk due to the tracheotomy and drain tubes; there were wires and tubes everywhere, he was in a fog for two days and doesn’t remember much.   He couldn’t talk at first, and because he is so chatty, that was very frustrating.  The first words he spoke when he could, was to say hi to his wife. 

He was in the hospital for two weeks recovering, but the thoughts that were in his head, haunted him.    He wasn’t used to all of this, he was used to taking care of his family.  He didn’t like laying there feeling like a drain on them.  They say Cancer brings a family closer, this, what happened to him, what the hardest thing his family has ever had to go through.  

 He is slowly recovering, getting his life back, learning and trying to have a positive attitude but this cancer and all that he went through took its toll on him and all that he thought he was.  It was so difficult watching everyone tend to him while he recovered but they got through it, and he couldn’t have done it without them…