Today Suzanne was scheduled for her Pre-Op meeting with all those who will be involved with her upcoming surgery next week. No surprises but still informative and a little unsettling.

We came up the night before and glad we did. Overnight about 2″ of snow fell in the Chicago area. On top of that, a huge lake effect storm occurred during the day in advance of the winter storm tonight.

First up – Reconstruction. This Doctor will be responsible for putting things back together the best he can so Suzanne will have some semblance of normal. He will replace the void in the tongue with a graft of skin, tissue, and veins taken from Suzanne’s right inner wrist area. To repair the right wrist area, a skin graft from the thigh will be used. Although this reconstruction will fill the void left from removing the tongue, it will not have any functionality, just a place filler. His attitude was positive toward her future outlook.

Next up – Deconstruction. Our main surgeon has been a part of her team since the beginning; his job is being the bad guy. Surprised to hear that she has no pain, been eating solid foods, and gaining weight, he took a long look with a scope down her nose, throat as well as fingering the area. At the start, he even questioned what he was about to do as he shared that most people are getting worse going into surgery, not better. Bottom line, he still believes that most of the tongue will be removed during the surgery causing life long loss of eating.

Speech Therapy, another long time team member caught us as we were leaving the previous appointment. Along with Suzanne’s Dietitian, the two of them shared how her tracheotomy will work, speaking with a trach, her potential options for drinking fluids, and then re-teaching speech articulation, as well as the timeline for all this.

Finishing up around 12:30 pm, off to the cancer center for round two where she first had her port accessed; then a CT scan with contrast where they insert dye for the CT; then back to have her port de-accessed; and finally an appointment with Allied Health to look at Suzanne’s feeding tube.

The Surgery will take about 8 to 10 hours; 2-3 for destruction and then 4-6 for reconstruction. Suzanne will remain sedated in intensive care for the first day or so. The big concern will be that all the reconstruction work takes hold and lives. Then a regular room for almost a week to be sure everything is healing properly and learning all we need to be prepared for when we get home.

I wish I could have said the day was stress-free. The impending snowstorm downstate lingered in the back of our mind all day and how we could somehow magically speed things up. Leaving Rush at about 2:30, we made it home in about two & a half hours, truly a white knuckle trip all the way.

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6