Trach and treatment update

lornal
lornal Member Posts: 428
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Had trache on Monday.  They also did diagnostic scopethreat throat and esophagus. Cancer board metyesterday and the doc and his team came by last night. Surgery is the best treatment. Voice box comes out. Lower throat comes out. Upper esophagus comesan out and is rebuilt from forearm skin flap. Nearby lymph nodes come out. No neck dissection. No chemo. No rads. ThiS will be done end ofnext week or following week. Still In hospital. Mabe go home saturday!

Thanks for allyour support

 

Comments

  • jim and i
    jim and i Member Posts: 1,788 Member
    #2
    Why no chemo or rads? Sounds

    Why no chemo or rads? Sounds like brutal surgery though. Praying for full recovery and comfort

    Debbie

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,724 Member
    #3
    T&P

    Lorna,

    Did you read (on H&N forum) about getting electrolysis done on area of forearm where the skin will be harvested?  Particularly if receiving no radiation.

    Good thoughts and prayers for you.

    Matt

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #4
    CivilMatt said:

    T&P

    Lorna,

    Did you read (on H&N forum) about getting electrolysis done on area of forearm where the skin will be harvested?  Particularly if receiving no radiation.

    Good thoughts and prayers for you.

    Matt

    I am likely the one who brought that up

    I will say this,  I did it because it was creeping me out, thinking of my hairy forearm transplanted to a visible place in the floor of my mouth.  I was also pretty upset about the whole situation, and powerless, and took ahold of this as being something proactive I could do.  It was not a very pleasant experience.  Took a total of about 10 hours over three sessions to do.  It was expensive, and uncomfortable as well.  I had the approval of my ENT oncologist to do this, though he hadn't had anyone else raise this topic before.  So I showed up  for my surgery with a purple splotchy forarm.  It freaked out the staff, but not the ENT.   In the present case, the tissue harvested is likely identical to mine, but the location of the recipient site is far enough down the gullet that it wo't be visible.  I'm not going to claim this was a great idea I had.  Under the same circumstances  as I had befoe, I probably would do this again.

     

    Pat

  • lornal
    lornal Member Posts: 428
    #5
    CivilMatt said:

    T&P

    Lorna,

    Did you read (on H&N forum) about getting electrolysis done on area of forearm where the skin will be harvested?  Particularly if receiving no radiation.

    Good thoughts and prayers for you.

    Matt

    I'll ask.

    Ill ask. If anything, itmighty give the docs a laugh. Prob no time. As soon as we said okay to surgrey, one of the docs testeed thblooded flow to my hand since they will remove one of the arterIes. Also, thr nurse had to take the IV off that Arm. It's off limits now. He said my only job until surgery is to make sure no one messes with it

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #6
    lornal said:

    I'll ask.

    Ill ask. If anything, itmighty give the docs a laugh. Prob no time. As soon as we said okay to surgrey, one of the docs testeed thblooded flow to my hand since they will remove one of the arterIes. Also, thr nurse had to take the IV off that Arm. It's off limits now. He said my only job until surgery is to make sure no one messes with it

    thats exactly what I had done

    Radial artery,  muscle and overlying  skin about 6x13 cm.  then they did a split thicckness graft from my thigh to cover the defect.  That was no big deal.  The arm part didn't hurt at all, surprisingly.  If they didn't get enough vaseline on the leg site, the dressings stuck and that was a problem.  I didn't let them get away with inadequate vaseline, better too much than too little.

     

    Pat

  • lornal
    lornal Member Posts: 428
    #7
    longtermsurvivor said:

    thats exactly what I had done

    Radial artery,  muscle and overlying  skin about 6x13 cm.  then they did a split thicckness graft from my thigh to cover the defect.  That was no big deal.  The arm part didn't hurt at all, surprisingly.  If they didn't get enough vaseline on the leg site, the dressings stuck and that was a problem.  I didn't let them get away with inadequate vaseline, better too much than too little.

     

    Pat

    Thanks

    I will watch for stingy vasoline applicators

     

    Happy with Barnes. My surgeon is the one I was going to get the second opinion from. He does this surgery all the time. 

  • lornal
    lornal Member Posts: 428
    #8
    jim and i said:

    Why no chemo or rads? Sounds

    Why no chemo or rads? Sounds like brutal surgery though. Praying for full recovery and comfort

    Debbie

    Chemo and rads

    I'll ask tomorrow why. Too much informatiom coming at me last night. I've already asked for answers again that I asked last night

  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #9
    longtermsurvivor said:

    thats exactly what I had done

    Radial artery,  muscle and overlying  skin about 6x13 cm.  then they did a split thicckness graft from my thigh to cover the defect.  That was no big deal.  The arm part didn't hurt at all, surprisingly.  If they didn't get enough vaseline on the leg site, the dressings stuck and that was a problem.  I didn't let them get away with inadequate vaseline, better too much than too little.

     

    Pat

    Lorna

    Sorry you have to go thru this but glad you have a plan that you feel confident with. I am with Pat, my flap came from my leg so I also had the hair issue but radiation took care of it, as the surgeon said it would. He did tell me he had a patient w/o radiation that was going thru lazer tx after the new flap was in place. Since yours will not be visible, you probably won't even know it's there. I was warned how painful the graft from my thigh would be. Actaully, the pain was just a couple of days and mainly when they went to change the bandage. Not pleasant but not as bad as they lead me to believe it would be.

    May God bless you as you move forward.

    Candi

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #10
    lornal said:

    Thanks

    I will watch for stingy vasoline applicators

     

    Happy with Barnes. My surgeon is the one I was going to get the second opinion from. He does this surgery all the time. 

    If it matters to you

    I vote with you on this selection. Barnes is a hospital of international renown, huge volume of cases, and top flight specialists in all areas.  When this guy says he does this surgery all the time, you can bank on it.

     

    Pat

  • debbiejeanne
    debbiejeanne Member Posts: 3,102 Member
    #11
    Lornal, I've very sorry you

    Lornal, I've very sorry you must go thru all this surgery and lose so much to get better but very glad they have a plan for you.  when you say, voice box must come out, does that mean you will have a complete laryngectomy?  i had one 2/28/12 so if you have questions about it just ask.  i'll do my best to answer you as i remember it.  its a great thing that you don't have to have a neck dissection, that was the worst thing i went thru other than the laryngectomy.  i pray all goes well for you.  please let us know how you do thru surgery once you feel up to it. 

    God bless you,

    dj

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