Well I came here on 13 July for an operation to remove cancer from my throat and 24 days later I am here hospital writing this update.  It’s been an interesting and dare I say it difficult slog so far as I work to get to the stage where I can reliably go home and learn to swallow and hopefully eat normally again.

So how did the operation go?

The operation itself went well although I understand that it was 14 hours all-up on the operating table and then 3 days in intensive care the removing of the cancer seems successful.  

After the operation and the challenge of a tracheostomy tube and breathing through my neck I had some additional challenges that caused a number of trials that at all times were manageable but at most times were ugly,  lucky for me I can always close my eyes, grit my teeth and think of my two girls to keep me motivated to get through, I was surprised how effective this was to get over the times I had to call on this.

I had prepared myself for having a sore throat when I came out of my operation but had not anticipated all the other components that came together, with everything from a catheter to help me go to the toilet, a suction machine to help repair the skin graph in my arm, the machine to help me breath, the lines in my veins to help me medicate and the tube in my stomach to help me feed.

Ironically all of these things became manageable and it was not too long before they were all gone,  but the worse thing has been the nauseous / reflux that has resulted in vomiting that becomes complicated when you have a throat that can’t swallow things down let alone have stuff forced the other way.  This has mainly meant that I have been attempting not to move around or do much of anything to try and avoid the sickness happening.

I do understand that all of this has been complicated by my cancer 6+ years ago and am extremely appreciative for the amazing level of care from the doctors, nurses and all the people around them helping me directly and my family, friends and colleagues helping me so much indirectly.

Where to from here?

Well, I am hoping that by finally having the energy to write this I might start to re-engage with the world, start to read more, respond more and start to move from the lying down all day looking blankly at home renovation shows to doing something more productive with my days.

Thankyou

A massive big thank you to those that have reached out with messages, and an even bigger thank you to all those who have reached out to Kirsten and have done many little and big things to make their lives much easier through this time,   in a period where it is impossible for me to-do anything it is so so appreciated.