I am back in business! I was discharged from the hospital around 10:00 this morning. Everything went just as good as I could have hoped for.

Since my brain is still a bit tired, the following is taken directly from the dismissal summary:

patient underwent reection of the right posterior mandible with a right buccal transpositional flap. Surgigal pathology was identified to be SCC that did not invade the osseous structures of the periosteum.

So it was all good news. It wasn't necessary to remove any nodes. It even turns out that I shaved my thigh for nothing as they didn't need to borrow the skin after all.

I definately feel better than I expected I would. Today is the worst day so far, according to the Doc, today is the day that the swelling should be peaking. My face is huge and hard. I am very numb on the right side of my mouth, but am told that I should have some improvement over the next months. I do understand that I will have some permanent numbness.

The biggest challenge for me is the diet. I will be eating a "no chew" diet for 6 weeks. In the hospial, there wasn't a huge variety, but at home, I think we'll be coming up with a few more ideas. My Brother, who is the biggest foodie around, is currently out grocery shopping for me. He is trying to be very creative and I can hardly wait to see what he comes up with.

So I feel quite good, except I fade out pretty quickly with no notice. That's where I am now. I gotta go lay down.

Thank you all so much.