Ready for another round!

Today, I called the office of Dr. Francisco Rodriguez, who last week performed an axillary dissection of my right armpit area. The call was to tentatively schedule a follow-up to that procedure and also concern over swelling and tenderness in that particular area. I was told that the Dr. would see me later that same afternoon. After arriving at the office and a short wait I was visited by Dr. Rodriguez and greeted with the abysmal, "I have bad news or you". He went on to say that the pathologist report had come back only yesterday from the dissection and it showed that the cancer was now present in that area and that I should get a hold of Dr. Kukunoor as soon as possible. He did say he attempted to contact Dr. Kukunoor himself, but Dr. Kukunoor was on vacation. Needless to say I was somewhat at a loss as to what pertinent questions to ask, but Dr. Rodriguez basically said that surgery was not the answer due to the complexity of nerves, muscle and other tissues in the area but that I would require further treatment. He did not go into detail as to whether this would involve another round of chemo, radiation or both so I'm sure Dr. Kukunoor will discuss this with me when I meet with him in the near future. Aside from the tenderness and swelling in that area and I have no other pain except for my ongoing swallowing issues and I'm not sure if that is tied into this or not. So again, I will post more as things develop but this is where it stands right now!

Busy Week

Well, this week was a very busy week as far as Dr. appointments and procedures were concerned. It started on Monday with a Barium Pill Swallow study that was conducted at 8:30 a.m. at the Scottsdale North Hospital. It was about a 20 minute procedure in which I was given Brium liquid to swallow followed by a Barium pill. A visual screen was placed where I as well as the Dr. could see where the two items went and it confirmed what I had been saying all along. The liquid Barium was going into my lungs and the pill went no further than the base of my tongue and stuck there. Attempts to move the pill along by drinking water failed and I ended up having to cough it back up. It was not that large of a pill!
Tuesday, I had an Axillary Dissection performed on my right armpit area to remove lymph nodes that had illuminated during my last two PetScans and were deemed metabolically active. This was done at Paradise Valley Hospital and I was there from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. mostly due to the prep work and tests that had to be done before the procedure and about two hours for the sedation to wear off. I'm still a little tender in that area but there is no major pain. I did go to work the following two days ignoring the instructions to give 24 hrs for the anethesia to wear off, and I regret not following the instructions as I suffered severe headaches and nauseau toward the end of my shift on the first day back. I did feel better the second day though.
Friday, at 6:00 a.m. again at Scottsdale North Hospital I had an Endoscopy and Dilatation of my esophagus by my GE Dr. Bradford Gelyzad. The dilatation was done not with the expandable Donut I had been told about previously, but rather with two tubes of different diameters that were inserted into my mouth and down my throat to expand the esophagus. I was coming out of the sedation during this procedure because I remember seeing the rust colored plastic/rubber hose and remeber the Dr. speaking to me, but I don't remember feeling anything at all. I had a bite block in my mouth, which was placed there for the Endoscopy and made insertion of the tube easy for the Dr. Swallowing later in the day was noticibly easier in that food would not get hung up at the top of the esophagus, but being that my tongue is still swollen, chewing and eating in general is still difficult and aspiration through the trach persists. I should have a follow-up with Dr. Gelyzad sometime with the next 10 to 14 days for a follow-up.
So aside from awaiting the Pathologists report on the Axillary Dissection and the follow-up with Dr. Gelyzad nothing else to report on at this time. Hopefully the swelling in my tongue will go away with time as all of this is being attributed to Radiation side effects, and I'll be able to return to a normal diet. Until then eating will continue to be a struggle and great discomfort but I know it is important in maintaining my overall well-being. The majority of my diet will probably continue to be of the liquid type for the short time being, until these side effects subside.
My next posting will probably be when I get the results back from the Pathologist.