Three Weeks After Glossectomy

Originally posted June 14, 2017

Three weeks ago yesterday they wheeled him out of surgery and he looked like death warmed over.

The kids have been craving Dad’s crunch wraps. Super Dad satisfied even though he can’t eat what he makes.

Tony has been going to work this week and things feel almost ‘normal’ around here. He was discharged from home health today. They have only been here twice… once to admit him to the program and once to discharge him from the program. All they really did was receive and deliver his liquid nutrition. Ha ha

Tony is making progress on the swallow. It’s going a lot slower than he wants. He is able to get sips of water down now. So far he has eaten cream of chicken soup, thin sweet potatoes, and Kern’s nectar. Since he hasn’t lost his sense of taste like we thought he would, we have resorted to some baby food combinations like Apples & Mangoes with Rice Cereal and Garden Vegetables & Beef. He is eager to graduate to more satisfying fare.

He keeps his left thigh wrapped with an ace bandage most of the time to avoid a seroma. There is one small area near the knee where he is retaining a little fluid. He doesn’t limp at all, so no one would guess he recently had surgery there.

The most annoying thing right now besides over-producing salivary glands is that his mouth stinks and he says the flap tastes like sweat and bile. 😝 Good oral hygiene only helps temporarily and it quickly returns.