Surgeon's meeting

Hi Everyone! I had a relatively uneventful appointment yesterday. I suppose it went well, in most respects.

The doctors were much less concerned about swallowing and other nerve functions after the surgery. They did agree with the Vermont doctors original views that I would have difficulty swallowing and a hoarse voice, but not nearly to the extent the doctors in Vermont thought. They have a swallowing institute in NYEEI and said that they may need to teach me to cough, swallow, and cough again to avoid choking, due to the vocal cord being weak, but they did not say I would need a feeding tube. (Yay!)

They also do not readjust the right vocal cord during the first surgery, as many people's vocal cords recover and surgery is unnecessary. They also said it is possible to over adjust, so they wait to see exactly how much adjustment is necessary before performing the operation, which they said is rather simple. Therefore, the surgery will take only six to eight hours.

The one catch: Even after the extra scan, Dr. Linstrom now thinks the tumor is a paraganglioma (the original diagnosis) while Dr. Murali continues to think it is a schwannoma (the nonvascular type of tumor). So they will do an angiogram and check out the blood flow for themselves by threading a catheter from my leg up through my veins into the area where the tumor is. This will not happen until right before surgery, and they will use anesthesia so that they can embolize the tumor then if necessary.

They only do one surgery a day, and only on Tuesdays (I don't know why only Tuesdays). So I am tentatively scheduled for August 3rd in Westchester, depending on if the insurance company comes through and the doctors can schedule an operating room, anesthesiologists, etc. Which, since Dr. Murali is the chief of neurosurgery at Westchester, I'm thinking he has some pull.

I will also need to be in New Jersey for two or three weeks, because Dr. Linstrom takes out the stitches himself at that point. They plan on making an incision from behind my ear all the way down to my hyoid (about the middle of my neck), along the line where the scar would show up the least. Which, according to the doctor, "Everyone has a crease where their neck starts. Yours is riiight [pointing to my neck]-Wow you're young." Thanks, Doc. He did eventually find it though, or where it will be, when I am more wrinkly.

So that's the news, and I should hear within the week if the surgery is definitely scheduled and when I need to come in for the angio and possible embolization.

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers!