Arnold's health notice
5-3-2013:
Two weeks ago I had some
minor surgery performed on my pharynx in an attempt to reduce the amount of
"redundant" tissue which had sent me to the emergency room twice earlier this
year and was the cause of my 19 days in the ICU or Telemonitoring Unit in
January and February. The surgeons were cautious, conservative, not wanting to
take too much tissue and not knowing how my pharynx would react to the surgery.
At the conclusion they promised to look over the results in two weeks and
determine the next step to take. Today was that promised observation and
review.
The result -
disappointment.
My throat continues to show
redundant tissue, inflamed and waving in my breaths like strings of pennants at
the Grand Prix. Waving and telling me, "Go ahead, remove that breathing tube
and we'll treat you to another stay in the hospital when you can no longer get a
good lung full of air." My surgeon shakes his head and says we'll probably need
to be more aggressive when we operate the next time but let's wait for another
couple of weeks and see if it heals more. Neither of us thinks it will. But
another review date is set - May 21. This time we'll invite the senior throat
surgeon in the department to join us and give us the benefit of his opinion. I
ask that we set a surgical date now rather than wait for May 21. The doctor
agrees.
Two hours later the surgeon
calls. In setting up the surgical date he has found a "pharynx specialist" in
the system and he'd like me to be evaluated by this man. l agree, of course. I
don't know whether that will speed or delay the process but having more
information can't be a bad thing, can it?
Tuesday, May 7, is the
consultation date with this new specialist. Look for the next installment
then.
Arnold
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