Where was I? Oh, yes,
between the March 5, 2010, “Mom, the doctor called this morning; I have
cancer,” and Brandon’s March 29, 2010 surgery, members of a “tumor board” met
to discuss how to act on Brandon’s pathology report and we went with him to a “meet
the head and neck surgeon” appointment. (I got the impression not many parents
accompanied a 36 year old to such appointments!) The surgeon reviewed his plan
for the surgical procedure.
Although he didn’t give the
procedure a name, he went over possible outcomes based on what he might find
once the surgery began. It was possible that very little tissue would have to
be removed but he wouldn’t hesitate to do what was necessary to remove any
disease from Brandon’s right maxillary sinus. He explained that he might have
to remove some of the bone in that sinus, including bone of the hard palate,
which would create a cleft palate.
March of 2010 went by in fog
of hope and fear. Many prayers were said. Many tears were shed.
The day of March 29, 2010 Joe
and I joined Christina and her parents at the hospital as Brandon was admitted
to the pre-op area. When the transport team came to wheel Brandon to surgery,
we all gave him a kiss and then headed to the waiting room for several
nerve-wracked hours. We had no idea what the surgeon would find or how
extensive the procedure would be. At some point one of the OR nurses said the
doctor had asked her to call and tell us things were going well – whatever that
means.
Finally, the surgeon called
us into a consult room. Brandon was in the recovery area and doing well he
said. He’d stripped the entire right maxillary sinus of its mucous membrane. No
cancer was detected in any area other than one small bone facing the nose. (One
of the turbinates, I think.) He’d removed that bone and sent it with the other
tissue to Pathology. Brandon would be followed closely with check-ups every
three months for several years, but everything looked good. (I got the
impression the surgeon was taken by surprise when I threw my arms around him.)
 |
| March 29, 2010 - Post-maxillectomy |
 |
| March 30, 2010 - the day after |
We took Brandon home to
recover and after a few days he headed back to his own place. I’d found out the
name of his procedure was a “maxillectomy,” and it often involves the removal
of much of the hard palate or of bone underneath the eye, which means the eye
must also be removed. (I was glad I hadn’t known the name of the procedure
before the surgery, which really isn’t like me! I usually want to know every
detail in advance!) Of all the bones that may have been affected, Brandon lost
one that seemed the least consequential. Yes, it would cause discomfort and its
removal involved some long-term unpleasant side effects, but compared to what
might have been….
And our family breathed a
collective sigh of relief and felt thankful thinking Brandon/all of us had
dodged a lethal cancer bullet.
No comments:
Post a Comment