Five years ago I was sitting in my dentist's chair when his hygienist found a lump on my hard palate. The lump, known as Cap'n Lumpy after that, turned out to be a rare-ish form of minor salivary gland cancer called polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma.
It started a year-long freakout on my part, most of which is documented on this here blog, that culminated in my wearing a cool plastic-and-metal prosthetic to replace the chunk of my mouth that a surgeon removed.
I'm not sure how I feel about this, so I'm gonna just mark this lumpiversary and leave it be. I have the latest set of scans (CT and MRI) coming up week after next. I'm not sure how I feel about that, either. Maybe it'll be easier once I transition to once-a-year rather than once-every-six-months scanning; maybe it'll be a whole new kind of hell. We'll see.
In other news, Keith is gone. I don't know the details, having been on vacation this last two weeks, but he's been relieved of his duties at Sunnydale and has gone back to the pit that spawned him. It probably had something to do with a patient decompensating to the point that she had to be intubated on his watch, with nobody but him being aware of it. I don't know. All I know for sure is that I can work now without having to worry about somebody else's patients as well as my own.
So. One okay thing, one good thing. Not a bad way to start off the new year.
Sending "negative" results happy thoughts your way ~
ReplyDeleteAnd YAY on Kevin being gone!!
Re Keith: "And now is ze time on Sprockets vhen ve dance!!!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZR9SA5pOg
ReplyDeleteAhhhh, I will miss the Keith stories!!
ReplyDeleteWoot! And sing!
ReplyDeleteYAY FOR NO MOAR KEVIN!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation in previous post about dead florence. Love it.
Good news...hoping all scans negative next week!
ReplyDeleteI bet you'll be fine with once a year scanning. The time flies by, and you have to do it less often. I had a low grade brain tumor 17 years ago, and am now at a two year scan interval. It took me a while to be ready to drop back to that long an interval, but once I went over to it, I found I liked it. In my case, and I assume in yours, too, if you get nervous about it, you can get a scan sooner.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a nurse, don't work in the medical field at all - just love your blog. I am so glad that 1) Kevin is gone; 2)you are not - you are still there looking out for us patient-types. We need you. Thanks for all you do!
I just hope he wasn't just shunted off to another hospital and that steps were taken to hang him by his thumbs, or whatever is the nature of professional discipline where you are.
ReplyDeleteWell, hallelujah on the Keith thing. And best wishes on the scans. I'm glad you are five years down the road.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the scans. I will miss your Keith store but for everyone's sake I'm glad he is gone. Hopefully, it will be awhile before the next "Keith" comes along.
ReplyDeletePrayers for you, jo.
ReplyDeleteAt least the ones about Keith have been answered. Hallelujah! Just hope the BON finishes it off, so no one else suffers.
Yayyyyyy on Keith!
ReplyDelete