I started this one after my nose surgery follow up on the 2nd, I guess now is as good a time as any to finish it…

Dr. Davis today said that my nose is healing perfectly.  Awesome!  I went in thinking that everything was done and healed already.  Such is not the case, in fact, he said there’s still some swelling in there and my breathing will continue to get better over the next 2-4 months.  Holy crap, that’s awesome!  I was happy with the way it is now, but knowing there’s more in there is even better.
I have never had an appointment that went that quick.  It took me longer to get there than it did for the entire appointment, thanks to a mess of traffic on the Mountlake exit.  Then again, I’ve never arrived for an appointment a couple minutes late either.  They always make me wait, so I figured that it wouldn’t matter, and it didn’t.

Dr. Davis mentioned to me how cool he thought it was that I added a picture of myself to my medical record at UW.  Apparently, I’m the only patient in the department that’s done that as I’ve heard the same thing from the voice side of the office as well.  He said it makes it that much easier to remember who they’re going to be seeing that day.  Sounds like I won’t need to see him again.  Wow, that was such an easy (relatively) fix to that problem.

Got back to work and got a phone call from Dr. Hillel’s office and he wants to see me next Wednesday.  Odd.  I wasn’t expecting to see him until October as I mentioned in a different post.  I wonder what this one is for and if I’ll still have the one next month.

Continued…

Saw Dr. Hillel on Wednesday.  Unfortunately, I had picked up a cold over the weekend (or more likely at the Seahawks game that Thursday) which caused a sore throat the days prior to the appointment.  Thus, my vocal cords were inflamed and not giving an accurate representation of the current state of my voice.  Great timing.

They did the usual scope down my nose to check things out while I said things and hummed things.  Ultimately, it didn’t show much.  Dr. Hillel said, “either way it’s entirely up to you and how you feel about your voice.  There’s more we can try.” He also wanted to know what it was that bothered me about it and if I still have troubles with swallowing?  I let him know my thoughts and struggles with it.  I agreed to do one more surgery.  This one will likely be in December to give the material that was injected enough time to completely dissolve. 

We’ll go in with the plan to place an implant in on the left side, have me talk, hum, make some sounds to hear if it makes a difference. If it does he’ll leave it in and move to the right side to see if he can improve the placement of that implant as well.  If there’s no improvement with the implant on the left side he’ll remove it and just focus on the right side.

I’ve more or less decided that this is the last shot. 

I’m not sure I have much more in me to keep trying.  The muscles and nerves just aren’t there physically to do what I need them to do.  I’m not sure I want to keep paying for all these attempts with barely any improvements.  I’m not sure I can emotionally handle the highs, lows and unmet expectations any more.  I’m concerned about the toll on my body from all the anesthesia.  I’m concerned about the (admittedly unlikely) possibility that something dramatic happens when they put the scope down my nose and into my throat one time. I’ve grown weary of having a doctor appointment at least once a month for the last two years (with the exception of June ’13).

Saw Dr. Roth last month too, had a routine blood draw and catch up with her.  Blood work all came back good.  I noticed that my TSH has been slowly creeping up over the last three checks, but is still in the expected range for my case.  I suppose that’s a relief.  Coming up on my two year anniversary of diagnosis next month, I’m sure I’ll be thinking about what’s happened since then.  Only a little more than 3 years to go until I can finally say that I’m officially cancer free.  Maybe I’ll throw a party then.  Anyway, I’ll go back in for a regular ultrasound in November.

Next month I’m headed to Denver for the 17th Annual Thyroid Cancer Survivors Conference.  My Dad is meeting me out there, that’ll be great.  They haven’t published the list of classes yet, but I’m hoping for a few topics that pertain to my experience.  I’ve never been to Denver, so I’m really looking forward to being able to explore at least a little.

Thanks to Phil for inviting me over to watch the game with you and the family yesterday, in addition to taking me to the game the week before AND the Harvin jersey. I truly do love spending time with you all.  I especially love our talks, you’ve always got great advice and help me to see things in a different light.  I always look forward to the next time we can enjoy each others company.  You’re a great friend, and yes, I’ll share this post on my FB wall so you’ll know it’s here.  😉

I’m off to go play some Destiny.  Goodnight.