Peyton Miller, son of Renee (Rundall) and Vince Miller and brother to Shelby (19), received the diagnosed of Oral Cancer of the left tongue on August 7th, 2018. (Med terms: Invasive keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma of the left lateral tongue.)
The diagnosis came from a pathology report for a biopsy taken on August 1st, from a cyst on his tongue. On Monday August 13th Peyton arrived at Methodist Children's Hospital in Omaha, NE. At 10:30 AM a "CT Neck with Contrast" (Ct scan) was performed. Based on the results of the CT, they proceeded to perform surgery to remove the cancerous cells from the tongue and some enlarged lymph nodes on the left side of Peyton's neck. The cancerous cells in the tongue extended to a large portion of the bottom left side of his tongue down to and including some of the floor of his mouth. The cells were tested by pathology as the surgeon removed them until only cancer free cells remained from the surface of the removal. The lymph node cells were sent to pathology for testing. Results from pathology for the lymph nodes should arrive by August 17th.
To minimize the number of times Peyton would have to come to the hospital and be anesthetized, it was already planned that the CT scan, removal of tissue, and reconstruction would be completed at one time.
Due to the extent of tissue removed from the tongue, the reconstruction of the tongue became more complicated. Tissue from the palm side of Peyton's wrist was grafted and used in the reconstruction of the tongue. And skin from his left thigh was used to cover the wrist were the tissue was grafted.
The surgery ended at about 6:30 PM August 13th.
Due to the fact Peyton would very likely immediately try to remove the post operative tubes when he woke up, it was determined he would be kept in a sedated and partially paralyzed state for 72 hours. Dosages have been reduced over time, to minimize the recovery from the anesthesia etc. This was extended to Friday (96 hours) when Peyton's temp rose to 102, and there was a brief fear of pneumonia, but the fear was unfounded.
On Monday August 20th we were informed by the head surgeon that Peyton has Stage 3 cancer. 1 out of 30 lymph nodes were cancerous. 50% survival rate w/o radiation, 85% survival w/radiation. Radiation Side effects: pain, dryness of mouth.
Peyton was released from the Hospital on August 23rd.
Additional journals will be added with further details and updates.
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