Hi Christine,
Thank you so much for your kindness in taking the time to respond to my post and question. Today is 11 weeks since my surgery and I am just taking it day by day and feeling very blessed and grateful for each day given. I will admit some days I do get scared reading some of the posts on here ,and thinking about all the stories I read of all the wonderful people like yourself and others on here that have had to deal with this horrible disease coming back. I just try to stay positive and just take it one day at a time. I tell myself ,,,listen you were diagnosed with melanoma in 1986 and are still going! I work in the special education classroom at a high school so have been off all summer. Looking forward to going back to work to have more to occupy my mind than stress! I have not seen a speech pathologist but my husband says my speech is totally normal. however some days it seems a little mushy to me on certain words. Of course I have a really southern accent so he says that makes it worse lol. I have been doing the exercises the surgeon asked me too and i think I have a touch of the frozen shoulder he warned me about. Other than that I feel wonderful and very blessed.
I had lost around 18 lbs. from Jan. when I first discovered the spot on my tongue till around May right after my surgery but have now put back on around 6 or 7 lbs. so eating is not a problem for me at all! Another reason I am looking forward to getting back to work. I will definitely mention to my doctor on the 4th the tenderness in my incision area and see what he says. It's weird because one side of my neck where the incision goes is totally normal feeling but on the right side where the cancer and 1 bad lymph node was is the area that feels very tender to touch, however the swelling gets better every day so hopefully it just needs time. Anyway thank you so much for your kindness shown and I hope you have a wonderful weekend coming up soon.
Camille