Day 3 Tongue Cancer Surgery

Originally posted May 25, 2017

Day 3 and motoring right along!

Today they will start bolus feeding – giving the nutrition in larger doses at a time through the feeding tube like we eat most meals.

It has been one heck of a ride to get this far, but Tony shared with me yesterday how grateful he is to be rid of the excruciating pain that the tumor was causing. The tumor had progressed to the point that speaking was compromised, eating really hurt and it was difficult to sleep. He powered through it and was grateful for pain meds that took the edge off.

The speech therapist came by and guided Tony through some simple exercises, encouraging him to begin moving the flap around in his mouth. (I was out of the room when she came by yesterday.)

I am amazed that Tony already has some ability to move the new tongue around. 😛 He told us that he can feel tingles! Gives me great hope that once healing is complete that he will be able to speak in a way that will be generally understood. 🙏

Tony definitely woke up with his sassy pants on today. This morning he did a lap around the ward (over 500 feet) and impressed the heck out of the physical therapist. Ha ha

This afternoon he walked around the ward unassisted with only a slight limp due to the surgery on his left thigh and the occupational therapist says her work here is done for a couple of days. Ha ha

He watched the movie “Bucket List” to help pass the time.

Our nurse today has been Dewey and he looks and sounds remarkably like Hugh Jackman. I’ve been giving “Wolverine” a hard time all day. Ha ha

Orders were given to move us out of ICU as soon as a room opened up and by evening we had made it out of the ICU! This is the view to the southeast from our room on the 5th floor.