Hey everyone, three days down!!! Erik had surgery on Wed and it was supposed to be 3-4 hrs and turned into 6. But overall it was very successful. He ended up with 40% of his tongue removed with clear margins!!! (Hooray) and they did a radical neck dissection and we havent gotten the full pathology report yet. The doc did find another tumor lurking within, and behind the lymph nodes that was undetected on the MRI, which she removed. Erik is 6'4" and weighs almost 300 pounds, the doctor had a very hard time getting all the nodes, and that was why the surgery lasted so long. He woke in a lot of pain, and it took almost 8 hours to get it under control. He went to ICU and only spent 1 day there. Yesterday was good and he rested well, Today was really good in the A.M. he walked and talked (slurry) and then he was taken to get his PEG tube and well that put the whole day down the tube.(pardon the pun-Im exhausted) He hurt so much afterward, and then began to get nauseous, finally the nurse gave him some fenergan(sp) and he fell asleep, for about 2 hours, but meanwhile he didnt give himself any pain meds and well..got behind on the pain again. When I left tonight he was starting to get comfortable again. This truly seems to be a nightmare, I know it is bad right now, but does it get better? I hate that he is in pain, and plus so many people are trying to visit, its overwhelming to me just having to talk and keep them out of his room. Im kindof complaining, Im kindof just tired and I know Im rambling. I so appreciate those who have e-mailed me encouraging words, and tidbits of advice it sure is helpful to me. God bless all of you
Jennie