Happy Birthday Grandma (updated 4:15pm)

Happy Birthday Grandma. I hope you have a great one.

Jim T. My deepest sympathies over the loss of your mother. Jennifer and I offer our thoughts and prayers to you and your family.

I couldn't post last night because heavy storms knocked the power out in the Spring area. However, we had a nice evening.

I was able to go to work with the comfort that that Cat and a neighbor were watching over Jennifer, who is already getting along well.

The grandparents returned the boys to the house. Since the power was out, we decided to go out to eat......along with everybody else in a 10-mile radius. Everything was packed. The girls won and we went to a Mexican restaurant. It was a very good meal. I had fajitas. Jennifer had...the juice from the charro beans. Grace said it tasted like the beans dirty bath water (and I always tell the kids not to drink the bath water). I was kind and did put a little queso on Jennifer's spoon.

Unfortunately, the feeding tube is still bothering her (dang you Jim Gaffigan). We think, rather than moving in the esophagous, it may have twisted and bunched up a little. She decided to go with a tube feed because it was iritating her throat to swallow. We'll check with the doctor today about the tube situation.

The power was still out when we got back to the house around 10:00 pm, but came on about 30 minutes later....thank goodness, the kids were running my batteries down and we had all the candles lit...our house smells like one of those craft shops.

I started to get the tube feeding set up. Poured the liquid nutrition into the IV bag and was ready to flush the tube with tap water. However, I couldn't get the dang thing open. It's a simple concept. The stopper to the tube is the same type that you have with blow-up toys (balls, water wings, etc.). All you have to do is grab the tab, and pull the stopper out of the hole. IT WOULD NOT BUDGE!!! I worked on that stupid thing for thirty minutes and it did not move a millimeter. I have blisters on my thumb and index finger trying to work it out. I used pliers (needle nose AND regular). I tried to lubricate with corn starch...which worked on the outside, because I couldn't get a good grip after that. Finally, we just gave up and she drank a Boost. Unfortunately, no pain meds tonight...but she said she didn't need them.

I would venture to guess that, after the subterfuge with the Cheetos and other things that she probably did behind my back that......stay with me on this.......SHE SUPERGLUED THE STOPPER TO THE TUBE. That's the only conclusion I can come up with....throw away logic that states some of the medicine is indeed sticky and may have just sealed the stopper to the tube......I'm going with the theory around superglue.

Finally, after that battle, I still had to change the dressing on her arm. I see a slight change in the area of concern, but we are Scheduled to see the doctor today and will have that checked.

More later.

Okay, it's later. 11:30 am to be exact (or approximate).

Just saw the surgeon. We have a good news bad news scenario again.

GOOD NEWS:
He removed the bandage over the stoma (tracheostomy site). It's healing nicely. We can leave it open, but will choose to bandage when we get home because the skin is not fully closed.

He also removed the feeding tube at her request. We will now see a speech pathologist and try to upgrade the menu from liquids. Jennifer is going to request approval to eat Puffy Cheetos in order to "take baby steps toward crunchy Cheetos." I'm just requesting puréed foods.

BAD NEWS
We received the results of the pathology report. No squamous cell carcinoma in the sample tongue tissue (great), but it was found in one lymph node. The doctor said it didn't leave the encapsulated area, which means its isolated (still good?). We're not sure what this means to us, other than he is presenting her case to his colleagues tomorrow for feedback.


WORSE NEWS

The lab identified three nodes containing papillary thyroid carcinoma...-- thyroid cancer. End result will require the removal of the thyroid AND radiation to kill off any remaining. CRAP!!!!

Due to the nature of that surgery, it's recommended that we wait about 6 weeks before undergoing the treatment to allow time for Jennifer to recover from this surgery. CRAP. CRAP!!!!

This morning started out with foggy weather in Houston. It just got foggier in the hospital.

Okay.. It's tough right now, but well get through this.

Uncle Joe, a thousand may not be enough. We need more.

I'm afraid to say anything else after we visit the plastic surgeon this afternoon.

4:15 pm
Back to good news

We followed up with the speech pathologist. Jennifer's doing great. She was able to work the applesauce and fruit cocktail and was pretty much cleared for puréed foods and soft foods....but no Cheetos yet (although she'll say she heard differently). Everything else is progressing with the tongue and speech.

We followed with the plastic surgeon. The PA said the arm is looking great and that I did a great job dressing the wound. We'll continue for another week and then let the arm air out on a regular basis. AWESOME. The area of concern was okay, part of the healing process.

Stomach incision is healing nicely.

They cut the blue stitch from the free flap on the tongue. The blue stitch is a marker for identifying where the artery is so the follow up doctors and nurses can easily find the blood flow location when they use the Doppler...(the heartbeat in the tongue from my earlier posts).

All-in-all, it was a day of mixed blessings. We had major success on the recovery front, but upsetting news on the forefront. I understand that thyroid cancer is common and highly treatable. It was just unexpected news that caught us off-guard. As I said earlier, well get through it. Recovery may take longer, or a different path. But, once we figure the path out, we'll be able to navigate fairly well. Just may have to change summer plans again.

Thanks to all for their thoughts and prayers, their hospitality, and their support...we really can't do it without you.