Today is my LAST follow up with my surgeon and I'm 5 years cancer free!!
I had a lesion under my tongue for 10 years that had changed after I got really sick with bronchitis or some upper respiratory infection. I thought the coughing did something to the lesion, but no, it was Squamous Cell Carcinoma. I never smoked and I don't drink. It's mainly a smoker's disease and is rare for someone like me to get it.
I'm fortunate that it was caught early. If I had waited it could have spread. When I went to my dentist, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "It doesn't look like cancer. But we'll have you go for a biopsy." The specialist I went to assured me that he saw that type of lesion all the time and it wasn't cancer. But I was there for the biopsy anyway so he did it. His office called me immediately upon getting results and had me come in for the follow up a week earlier than was scheduled. He said, "I hate being wrong, but I was wrong. It's cancer." I hated that he was wrong too.
Within 2 weeks I got into a surgeon who was new to the hospital but was excellent at what he did and had me scheduled for the array of tests needed before surgery. He told me to make sure I get all my arrangements done. That scared me.
I had a portion of my tongue removed (they got good margins!) and was in the ICU for 3 days before being moved to a regular bed and remained there for 4 days. A week in the hospital! I wasn't allowed to eat and had a feeding tube but I had issues with the "food" they poured into the tube and demanded they stop so for 2 days I didn't eat. Of course, you'd think I would have lost weight, but no. Not my body....
Why? Because when they did the cat scan they saw that I had nodules on my thyroid. Within 5 months I had 2 surgeries for thyroid removal. They did the first half in one surgery and hoped it wasn't cancer, but then a month later I was back in for the 2nd surgery.
Because both my cancers were very small and hadn't spread I only needed the surgeries and no further treatment. Thank God!
I'm doing well now and haven't had any recurrences or further cancers.
I'm so excited for today 🙂 I might even sing for my surgeon who has been curious about my singing voice because I was concerned about the surgeries harming my vocal cords. Singing is important to me and my voice is still like a Disney princess to this day! That's my miracle.
I had a lesion under my tongue for 10 years that had changed after I got really sick with bronchitis or some upper respiratory infection. I thought the coughing did something to the lesion, but no, it was Squamous Cell Carcinoma. I never smoked and I don't drink. It's mainly a smoker's disease and is rare for someone like me to get it.
I'm fortunate that it was caught early. If I had waited it could have spread. When I went to my dentist, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "It doesn't look like cancer. But we'll have you go for a biopsy." The specialist I went to assured me that he saw that type of lesion all the time and it wasn't cancer. But I was there for the biopsy anyway so he did it. His office called me immediately upon getting results and had me come in for the follow up a week earlier than was scheduled. He said, "I hate being wrong, but I was wrong. It's cancer." I hated that he was wrong too.
Within 2 weeks I got into a surgeon who was new to the hospital but was excellent at what he did and had me scheduled for the array of tests needed before surgery. He told me to make sure I get all my arrangements done. That scared me.
I had a portion of my tongue removed (they got good margins!) and was in the ICU for 3 days before being moved to a regular bed and remained there for 4 days. A week in the hospital! I wasn't allowed to eat and had a feeding tube but I had issues with the "food" they poured into the tube and demanded they stop so for 2 days I didn't eat. Of course, you'd think I would have lost weight, but no. Not my body....
Why? Because when they did the cat scan they saw that I had nodules on my thyroid. Within 5 months I had 2 surgeries for thyroid removal. They did the first half in one surgery and hoped it wasn't cancer, but then a month later I was back in for the 2nd surgery.
Because both my cancers were very small and hadn't spread I only needed the surgeries and no further treatment. Thank God!
I'm doing well now and haven't had any recurrences or further cancers.
I'm so excited for today 🙂 I might even sing for my surgeon who has been curious about my singing voice because I was concerned about the surgeries harming my vocal cords. Singing is important to me and my voice is still like a Disney princess to this day! That's my miracle.
