Hello. I have been absent due to Hurricane Sandy. We didn't lose power but had numerous friends and family who did and our home became a charging/warming station to them. I have to say that it was a welcome distraction from my impending surgery.

On November 12th the oncologist further resected my tongue and performed a selective neck dissection. I was in the hospital for almost a week (home yesterday!). I had the nasal feeding tube and a drain in my neck. I had been warned that the removal of the feeding tube wouldn't hurt. It did! But it was quick and then it was over. I was warned that the drain removal would hurt, but it didn't, only because that portion of my neck has been numb post-surgery. That was a relief because I was dreading the drain removal and even cried like a baby when the doctor came towards me. It was actually kind of funny.

Overall I'm not in a lot of pain. When I do take percocet I tend to feel nauseous. I'm waiting to have an Ensure shake before I take my morning dose. I'm quite swollen on the opposite side of my neck. I've been diligently lubing my incision site with bacitracin. That's it for medications. I go back to the oncologist on Tuesday for a follow-up visit. He'll know the pathology results by then. You know, it's enough to have to go through these surgeries and to look and feel like a freak. Then in a couple of days I find out if the cancer spread to my lymph nodes and I learn if I can breathe a sigh of relief or if radiation is on the horizon for Christmas time.

I'm really not one to complain and say why me but please allow me to indulge in a moment of self pity. I know you all can understand. I don't know even know what to say. I just want to feel normal again. I want to not look like Jaba the Hut. Wah!

OK. That's enough of my whining.