Monday Sept 29 - Homeward Bound

On Monday Pat was able to go home. Yay! It was a day early according to what we were planning for, so we were excited that Pat was well enough to go home. The morning was spent getting last doses of meds, packing up our stuff and getting everything we needed for home. We left the hospital around 2pm and were home by 2:30. Even though it seems like an easy trip, it really took a lot out of Pat to come home. Little things are difficult after such a big surgery. He took a really long nap when we got home. He woke up for some dinner, pain medication and a dose of TV and then went to bed for the night. I had some anxiety at first being on our own at home, no more nurses. After a few calls to my sister, Michele who is a nurse, I was relaxed enough to go to bed too. We set our alarm for the middle of the night medication and got some shut eye.

The Weekend

On Saturday Pat made more progress. He was up walking several times and he had one of the drains in his neck removed. His doctor keeps telling us that he is looking great and doing well. His swelling did increase in both his neck and his tongue, but that is normal. It was a little harder for him to talk due to the swelling, but he is still able to get some mumbled words out. I can usually understand him and sometimes act as his interpreter for the nurses. : ) Pat mostly naps during the day and has been sleeping all night with the exception of waking up to take pain medication. Pat's doctors say it may take 4-6 months to get back to his normal energy level. We are planning on lots of naps and down time for some time to come. It is all part of the healing process. Debi stayed with Pat in the hospital on Saturday night and I stayed at friend's apartment in San Francisco - thanks Michelle & Adri!!

On Sunday morning the second drain in Pat's neck was removed. Every day he is a little bit better and a little less hooked up to machines. The doctors came by and again were very positive. They said most likely pat would be going home on Monday, a day earlier than planned. This was great news! Debi returned to Phoenix Sunday evening. It was so wonderful to have her in town. She is such a strong person - I know where Pat gets it from! Thanks for everything Debi! Some of our friends came to visit Sunday evening. It sure was nice to see friends, if only Pat could be a part of the conversation. Good thing there was some football on to keep him busy. Sleeping in the hospital the last night was pleasantly uneventful. We are looking forward going home.

Friday Evening

After lunch on Friday we headed back to the hospital. When we arrived Pat had just been transferred to a regular room. He made a joke to the Doctor in the ICU about requesting a single room...with a view, and low and behold he got it! The view is not much of a surprise though - UCSF is located on top of a large hill in San Francisco. Depending where you are in the hospital you can see downtown, the golden gate bridge or golden gate park. He spent the rest of the day and evening dozing in and out of sleep. He was able to eat some dinner, all liquids, but he has a good appetite. One of Pat's college friends that lives in the south bay dropped by and Pat was excited to have a visitor, but after that he was really exhausted and just could not stay up much past 9pm. We had a great nurse Friday night (my favorite so far - his name was Merritt) and he kept the pain to a minimum through out the night. I stayed the night in the hospital and keep a close eye on Pat. I think he got a really good rest for the first time in a few days. I on the other hand felt how a new mother must feel, I listened to Pat breathe all night and would jump at Pat's slightest movement. In the middle of the night the nurses have to come in and check vitals, draw blood and dispense pain med, but Merritt kept the interruptions to a minimum. Pat is getting much needed rest and is doing great!

Update from Friday Morning Sept. 26

Friday morning we headed over to the hospital around 8:30am to see Pat. He was still in the ICU where he spent the night. It was great to see him and he looked so much better! They were able to remove most of the tubes which was great because they were really bothering him. They removed the gauze from his mouth and cleaned him up a bit. We could recognize him again! We stayed a short time and left around 11:00 so he could get some rest. His first night in the ICU was rough and I'm not sure he slept at all -so we let him get some sleep.We met my parents for lunch on the Embarcadero and were able to enjoy ourselves after seeing how much better Pat looked and we knew he was getting the rest he needed.

Sucessful Surgery!

Pat’s surgery went really well. It was a very long day and it turned out to be a pretty long surgery, but Pat is doing ok.

Our afternoon of events:
We got another update around 3pm that they were done with the neck and moving on to the tongue. We checked into our hotel and headed back to the hospital. The surgery ended up taking over nine hours, a bit longer than we expected. The doctor came down to the waiting room around 6pm and gave us an update. He said it went really well. The neck took 6 hours. Everything looked very normal. The tongue surgery went well too. He said they needed to take a bit more than 30% due to a little further depth of the tumor. They ended up doing a skin graft from Pat’s thigh to close the incision on the tongue. The doctor said that all the samples that were sent to pathology during the surgery showed normal cells. We will have to wait aprox 10 days for the final pathology.

We finally got to see Pat in the ICU around 7pm. His mouth was packed with gauze and he had several tubes - feeding, draining and IVs. Despite some issues with discomfort he is in good spirits. He even asked the nurse to turn on the USC vs. OSU game! Go Pat! Dr. Dillon came in while we were there. She emphasized how well Pat did and how his youth is really on his side for recovery.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers today. I will continue to keep you informed. xoxox

Pat's Diagnosis

PAT’S DIAGNOSIS
Pat has squamous cell carcinoma on his left lateral tongue (not for long) : ) It is categorized as head and neck cancer.

The approach is the following:

SURGERY

The surgery has two parts – neck and tongue. First they will be doing a prophylactic neck dissection on the left side of Pat’s neck. This means they are removing the lymph nodes mostly as a precautionary measure. The doctors do not believe the cancer is in the lymph nodes, but if the cancer were to go somewhere, the lymph nodes are where it would go next. They will be removed and sent to pathology to double check for cancer.

Secondly, they will do a partial removal of the tongue (approximately 30%). What they will do is cut around the cancerous area and then go beyond by one centimeter to make sure they get it all. During the surgery the outer edges of the removed tissue will be analyzed, again, to make sure they get it all. Pat’s speech will be affected, but he will go through speech therapy.

Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll do my best to answer them.

We got an update around 11:00am. The nurse said she will be calling every few hours. Things are going well. They are working on his neck first. She mentioned how he went to sleep nicely, which does not surprise me. He is the type of person who puts his head down on the pillow and is instantly asleep. So as for the first update – Pat is doing well! Yay!

We got another update around 1pm. He is doing well. They are still working on his neck. The neck takes longer than the tongue, so it is all going as planned. Debi, Michele and I just checked into our hotel and will be going back to the hospital shortly. We are SO excited to see Pat - hopefully soon!

Last night Pat’s mom, Debi, arrived. She will be here for the weekend. My sister, Michele and her two kids came over for dinner and swimming, so we had nice night hanging out at our place. This morning we woke up bright and early and arrived at the hospital around 6am. Pat was admitted and after a visit with the surgical team the anesthesiologist got started by inserting the IV and got Pat started on some liquids and drugs to help Pat relax. Pat was amazing - making jokes, conversing with everyone, and despite some nerves he was being his usual personable self. They also needed to numb up Pat’s nostril because of the tubes that were going to be inserted. They dipped some long q-tip like swabs in cocaine and put them up his nose. Yes, cocaine. (!?) Weird, but I guess it is all in the name of cancer fighting – why not add a little cocaine! Ha! We said our “I love yous” and off he went.

Tomorrow, Thursday, September 25th is surgery day...and a new start to Pat's cancer free life!
Pat checks in for surgery at 6am and the surgery gets started around 7:30am. Pat's doctors, Dr. Brian Schmidt and Dr. Jas Dillon at UCSF, said it will last between 6-8 hours from start to finish. We will most likely see Pat around 4pm. He will be staying the night in the ICU and will be put in a normal room on Friday.
Thank you all for your love and prayers, we apperciate it more than you know.