Tubes (was: Re: [rescue] Irix CDs)

[Sheldon T. Hall]

On Sat, 17 Aug 2002 14:59:22 -0500 Bill Bradford <mrbill at mrbill.net> said

>On Sat, Aug 17, 2002 at 02:30:37PM -0400, Sheldon T. Hall wrote:
>> I'm back.  I'm still breathing through one tube and "eating" through
>> another, but I'm back.  Surgery sucks, but the surgery itself is way
easier
>> than recovering from it....
>
> Dude, what did you have done?  Trache?  Was this for apnea?

Yes, I'm currently sporting a tracheostomy.  It's part of the recovery for a
"hemilaryngectomy with free flap" I had done on Aug 2.  Basically, they
removed the left half of my larynx, replaced it with a piece of rib and a
hunk of my right forearm, then covered the hole in the arm with a skin graft
from my right thigh.  I've got the trach so I can breathe past the swelling.

This was surgery #5 for what started as thyroid cancer in 1994.... None of
the other procedures were anything like this one.  For surgeries #2, 3, and
4, I went home the next day; this one took 10 days in hospital.  Although
this was was more invasive, the delaying actions we've fought until now gave
the medical miracle boys time to develop this procedure, and get the cancer
out while leaving me with a voice and normal swallowing.  What with all the
swelling and mucus (and mucus and mucus) I sound like a cross between Darth
Vader and a cartoon fish talking underwater, but I can talk.  The total
laryngectomy they wanted to do in '95 would have cost me _all_ my voice.

So, I'm "up and about" for fairly limited values of "about" ... I can't go
far from my suction machine, my mist generator, and my feeding stuff, but I
can wander around the house and yard, play with the dog, fool with
computers, etc.

More than you wanted to know, I'll bet!

-Shel
--
Sheldon T. Hall
shel at cmhc.com
206-780-7971