Hi All,

I'm home!!! Only for the weekend but hey what a recovery - being a fit lad obviously has done me well. My op last Thursday went very well, 9 hours - good flap repair - cosmetically Mr Vaughn and his team have done a faboulous job and no nerve damage too. There is a God!
Speech is O.K. - not brilliant but all seem confident that it will be near normal once the swelling has gone. Started sipping H20 on Wednesday - hard to control but my swallow is strong so again heres hoping. Results by end of next week will decide on radiotherapy - I sort of feel that I will need it but who knows. So I am going to catch up on some sleep (hourly obs for the first 72 hours was tough - thank God the first 24 - 36 I was not really with it)and chill out for a few days and then see what is left for me when I go back in Monday night (mostly sorting my forearm I think and starting speech and swallow therapy sessions.
With Love
Norm.

Congratulations Norm,, welcome home if only for the weekend, hey at least it is home....So glad to hear that all went well...Thank you for letting us know...Always Vicki Lynn

Hello Norman--Thank goodness you have that op behind you. Nine hours ye Gods! But it sounds as if they did a great job and you sound absolutely great. It's so good that they let you home for the Bank Holiday weekend. It doesn't matter that it's raining. It@s just, as I remember, that it is nice to be back in the middle of everyday life and the humdrum things we miss in hospital.
And you can rest more at homer I think. People come to visit in hordes on Bank Holidays (especially when it's raining!!!) as it helps pass their time. It is exhausting. You can retreat to your bedroom when you want without being thought a killjoy.
It is amazing that you have such a strong swallow already. That will be a huge help with everything, psychologically, physically and so on.

Best of luck and have a nice time. Ishbel

Hello Norm� You certainly must be a fit lad� maybe James Collier could use you as his P.A? Only jesting� Seriously though, I wish you well, enjoy your weekend, you certainly deserve it after such a gruelling op.

After such a false start Norm, you�ll come out with the gold � no problem.

Cheers

Rosemary

I'M back!! Discharged on Tuesday afternoon.

Sat and had a bowl of weetabix and mashed banana for breakfast - took me nearly an hour but I sat and thanked God how lucky I am at the end of it. I'm really emotional at the moment - I feel like I have been given another chance at life at present. I certainly intend to make the best go of it I possibly can.
So I'm off now to practice my alphabet and to try and say all the silly things youv'e probably all already done (lollipop, lollipop, lager, lager, caterpillar , caterpillar etc)
"""It's tough bein tough"""
Norm.

Good to see you Norm.

Goodness you are doing well if you can eat. Push that food in now before any radiotherapy as flesh melts away then.
Take care and enjoy today - as you say it is a very good to be and feel alive. It certainly is a wake up call for all of us.

Hi All,

I'm doing really well apart from a slight infection to my wrist. Everything else is healing up really well. I've regrown my goatee so the scar on my chin is hidden and the neck section scars sits neatly in the natural folds of my neck and so is not that noticable. The scar on my arm is ugly but it will get better with time I suppose - the infection in my wrist is fairly minor and hopefullly antibiotics will sort it quickly. Speech is coming on - still a bit lispy but getting better every day. Eating has really come on in the last few days and though slow I am managing a pretty normal diet. Not too good with red meat and some veg - anything too chewy really - but much better than I had expected 3 weeks post op. I feel really well and have even started some light training (only exercise bike - but its a start).
I have a meeting with my oncologist tomorrow to plan my radiotherapy - a bit anxious as I have read so many horror stories about side effects etc - but I suppose everyone is different and I will just have to take things as they come.
Hope you are all hanging in there.

"""It's tough being tough"""

Norm.

Hi Norm

Hopefully you will breeze through the radiotherapy too! Russ W seems to be doing okay with it.

Best wishes
Vinod :coffee:

Hi All,

I am really well at the moment - my wrist infection is clearing well and all else seems to be progressing as it should. I am still frustrated with my speech but everyone keeps telling me it is improving every day (I feel real guilty sometimes though, being so down over a bit of a lisp - I should thank God really). Eating a near normal diet - swallow is near normal, biggest problem is chewing and biting my tongue!! Still lots of swelling there and bits I cannot feel too well but that gets better every day too. Cycling every day on my exercise bike has made heeps of difference to the way I feel too - training every day is """normal""" for me so it gives a real pschological boost for me.
I have my mould done for my mask next Thursday and a treatment planning meeting the next Tuesday for my Radiotherapy so hopefully the week after we can get on with - I'm to have 5 weeks apparently and I really want to get on with it now - the sooner it starts the sooner it will be over as it were!! I 've been trying to read up on the things you can do to limit the side effects so any thing you folks have tried that works would be greatly appreciated.
"""It's tough being tough"""
Norms.

HelloNorman. Well you are doing the best possible thing at the moment, pre-radiotherapy, by getting so fit and then you probably won't get too muchreaction. I personally fond that once I got used to it the sessions were short and painless and I didn;t dread them at all.
The radiologists played a favourite violin Bruch on a CD I brought to stave off my claustrophobia. But that wasn't really a problem.
For the first four weeks I drove myself to the hospital and back. A busy round trip of 36 miles. B ut by the end of the fourth week I was beginning to feel very tired and people drove me.
When I wasn't sleeping, afterwards, I felt completely fit. And then this blanket sleep just hit me wham, wherever.
I found the Bach treatement (not the music but the herbal thing} very good/.A few drops on the tongue and I was never sick. Carry water everywhere because you will feel very dry and it tastes like nectar!
I'm sure you will be fine. Let us know.
Regards Ishbel

Hi All,

Had my treatment planning on Tuesday - all done and dusted now. Start radiotherapy on Thursday 7 October - 42 treatments planned - comes out at 6 weeks 2 days (some concurrent in the last week).
Not looking forward to it at all. I feel so well now, eating well, speech is getting better all the time, back running (which is sooo good). Frightened to death that radiotherapy will set me back BUT I know I've got to go through with it. Back to the fear of not knowing what to expect I suppose. Will let you know how I go with it anyway.
Hope you are all hangin in there.
"""It's tough being tough"""
Norms.

Hi Norm

Keep focused on the light at the end of the tunnel. Take care.

Hope you enjoy the Rolex and Timex humour . Know any good ones?

Best wishes
Vinod :coffee:

Good luck for tomorrow Norm. Have lots of water with you now.

Pauline

Thanks Dr Joshi, Pauline.
Calmed down a bit since I last posted!! I'm back to my positive self now. I'm feeling really well, eating well, speaking better, training well - I've even gone back to coaching at my Rugby Club (the guys are unmerciful in taking the p*** out of my lisp but its good to be back with them)
So tomorrow awaits and I'll take it as it comes - six weeks and 2 days and I will be wondering what I got so worked up about (I hope)

"""It's tough being tough"""

Norms.

p.s. for those who are wondering the signature is one I've used for 20 years (something a coach used to say to us when we moaned at fitness training) I'm not trying to be macho - honest!!