My next Milano is for you!
Thank you for the help and kind thoughts. I believe I've had 3 different modified barium swallow tests: one just before the bleed while in step-down post-TORS, one in late summer, and the last one on December 15. After this last MBS, the SLP told my wife and I that I have to think of this as training for the olympics: disciplined, routine, effortful. She said that I should be eating something every minute of the day.
It's simply not in my nature to be that disciplined and routine-ized. I do need to do more with my swallowing and tongue exercises. Most of my exercise time has been manual lymphatic drainage exercises.
I think the idea of eating a breakfast in place of cans is a good one. Before all this happened, I probably wasn't getting much calories at breakfast (chobani yoghurt, banana, coffee). I could start by finishing a yoghurt and a smoothie.
best wishes, Jon
SCC, HPV-related P16 Stage III T1N1M0
(prim. site rt base of tongue, 1.5 cm, 1 lymph node, nearly 3 cm)
Rad neck dissection 5/19/17 no probs
TORS 5/26/17 remove rt tonsil and divot at rt base of tongue
Arterial bleed at surgical site 5/31/17, 5 days intubated and sedated
Asp. pneumonia, hosp acquired pneumonia, DVTs
Tot 13 days in ICU
31 days targeted rad, until 9/21/17
No evidence of disease since
Still G-tube dep
Very grateful to be alive
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