Three States

Three Medical Crises

I wasn’t sure if I would write about this, but my blog is all about ‘life‘ on the road. And while most of our experiences have been of the fun, adventurous kind, we have also had some that have not been so. This is one of those.

I’m not a drama queen by nature, and I don’t wish to scare anyone who hasn’t heard of our latest ‘adventure’, so let me say right now, everything is fine. In fact, everything is great. But, over a crazy five-week period, I have been diagnosed with throat cancer, ran a gamut of tests, had major surgery, and have been proclaimed a ‘Cancer Survivor’. It’s a lot I know, and I’m still trying to come to terms with it.

I’d been aware of a lump on the right side of my neck for a few months, and made plans to get it checked out as soon as we arrived in Adelaide, which we did on the 26^th September.

The following day I was told that I had cancer in my lymph gland. Additional tests revealed cancer in my tonsils, and tongue but, the cancer had not spread anywhere else in my body, and that was an enormous relief.

I was admitted into St Andrews Hospital 21^st October, where my brilliant surgeon, Dr Suren Krishnan, used the Da Vinci Surgical System, (Transoral robotic surgery – TORS) to successfully remove both tonsils, some tongue, soft pallet, and a couple of other areas in the back of my mouth/throat that showed signs of cancer cells, all with sufficient margins to ensure he ‘got it all’.  After that, Dr Krishnan picked up his scalpel and removed the lymph gland from my neck. Job done! Truth be told, he could have removed the lymph gland first then the other stuff, I mean how would I know? I was asleep.

A week after the operation, we got the results from the pathology, Dr Krishnan did indeed get it all! There is no need for any radiation or chemotherapy treatments. To quote my doctor, “This is the best possible outcome.”

I was released from hospital on the 1^st November and am continuing to get better each day. I have some nerve damage, most likely temporary, to my face, neck and shoulder, and a magnificent scar down the side of my neck from that pesky little lump. But I am alive, I am cancer free, and I am eternally gratefully to all involved in achieving this for me.

I’m sure that the food in St Andrews was excellent, but I wasn’t able to make the most of that.

I’m hankering for a pizza but it would probably go off before I managed to suck my way through it and I doubt it would look very appetizing pureed. It will be a while before I can eat normally again, but I will.

I cannot speak highly enough of the healthcare system in SA. From my very first appointment with a local GP, to the ENT specialist, my surgeon, the nurses, and hospital staff at St Andrews, including a speech pathologist, and nutritionist. Couldn’t fault them, not one. the communication between all these services was open and clear, and everyone is just so darn friendly here.

Now of course I have written this from my perspective, me this, I that, but of course it wasn’t just me involved. I chose not to tell anyone about this until I had a better idea of what the situation was, but from the very beginning Peter has been there with me, every fearful step of the way. Supporting me, worrying about me, loving me. He has had to deal with getting the van in for repairs by himself, arranging accommodation for us, and running between home and the hospital a couple of times a day. In truth, I think there were times when he was more exhausted than I was.

I guess the only other thing to comment on is how Peter and I are coping with my recovery in the caravan. It has been perfectly fine. Let’s face it, we have everything in the van that we would have had at home. It’s just, everything is a lot closer. 😊 We’ve also been very lucky with the caravan park we are staying at, Levi Adelaide Holiday Park. They have been very obliging in extending our stay, it’s only fifteen minutes from the city, in a lovely quiet suburb and with an oval at our doorstep, we have a nice exercise space available to us.

So, Peter had his quadruple bypass in NSW, then my ruptured appendix in QLD, and now this, throat cancer in SA. Maybe we shouldn’t travel to any more states. 🙂

That begs the question, where do we go from here? Well, I need time to recover, and have some follow up appointments, so we will be at Levi until 22^nd December, and while we are here, we can finally get out and explore more of Adelaide and its surrounds. And yes, next year we are going to go to WA. Let’s hope for an ingrown toenail. 🙂

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!