Over the past few days I've been biting my flap (reconstructed portion of my tongue) much more often than in the past two years.  Bad, yes, but not painful (remember, this part doesn't have many nerve endings in it).  So when I went to carefully inspect the damage, my heart sank when I discovered a lesion and, even worse, what felt like a lump. 

In the exact same spot as the cancer my dentist discovered in the spring of 2019. 

Panic set in.  I mustered up the courage to tell Laura, and only minutes after speaking with the on-call head & neck specialist, she received a text from my surgeon, Dr. Day (who occasionally shares patients with her).  He chided us for not contacting him directly and told us to see him in clinic first thing Monday morning.  Yes, we will be there!

When we arrived, he was not only ready for us, but had already booked the operating room for me, just in case my problem was something urgent.  After a quick look in my mouth, he reassured me that what I had discovered was NOT cancer, but rather a lesion formed by the result of my flap loosening up over time.  The time had come to perform a "revision" surgery (something that had been explained from the beginning of my cancer/reconstruction journey) to reduce the size of the flap, and he revealed that the OR would be ready at 1pm if we were interested in doing it today.  YES was my immediate answer.  Let's get this taken care of.  Megan and Thomas were with their grandparents and would be thrilled to have yet another sleepover.  And I was ready to turn this nightmare into a positive step forward.

Although we had to wait around for several hungry hours (for me; Laura ate a yummy sandwich) at the ambulatory care/surgery center, once things got rolling shortly after 1pm, they drugged me up, took me back, and it was 4pm before I came to.  An Arby's milkshake on the way home helped assuage my hunger, and once we settled in at home Laura suggested a movie - La La Land - to force me to rest my tongue and keep me from talking.  The movie (a really sweet story about following your artistic dreams) was the perfect ending to an intense few days, and I was grateful to share that special time with her as I recovered.  No pain meds required, even, which is an additional blessing.

I can't express how lucky I am to have lightning-fast connections to an amazing medical team who can transform my deepest worries into something positive.  As Mike Rosenberg (Passenger) sings in one of his songs from an album that was a beacon of hope for me during my darkest days of 2019, "Sometimes it's something, sometimes it's nothing at all."  I've been spinning that album a lot over the past few days, hoping its message would turn out to be true.  And it has.

May this holiday season be filled with countless blessings for you and your loved ones. Hug 'em tight, and give thanks for all that is good in your life.

With so much love and gratitude,
Dave

PS - here are just a few photos of what we've been up to lately…