We are on our way back home from my follow-up appointment at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Moore feels like I am healing well, despite the set back from the infection in my neck. They found no more infection in the neck area, so I am to continue with the antibiotic I am on and let my body heal. In a couple of weeks I can start learning more lymphatic massage from a physical therapist to help the neck swelling go down.

The doctors felt like my tongue and skin grafts were healing very well. I can start doing more to strengthen my right arm again, but still need to protect and keep the skin graft out of the sun. We learned that my salivary glands are working to adjust to the skin graft on my tongue and over time they will be able to keep that skin patch moister as I talk, so that it feels less like a wad in my mouth. I am to continue with tongue exercises and see a speech therapist to learn more exercises and help improve my speech even more.

I return to Mayo in November so the doctors can recheck the skin grafts, especially the one on my tongue to be sure my body is adjusting okay.

All in all, I had a great report!