Aug 21, 2021

 Hello Everyone,

Richelle has done a great job keeping this blog up to date while I have been healing and recovering! I wanted to give an update and again thank everyone for all the support and kind words.

We went to Edmonton this past week to see the Surgeon as a follow up to my procedures and discussed what is recommended going forward. The procedures and outcome which are again:

• Removal of  small tumor at base of tongue. All went well and samples in tissue taken immediately adjacent did not show cancer.
• Removal of lymph nodes (just over 100) and only five came back positive for cancer and all from one area,
• My skin donor site on my arm is healing well and the Dr removed some scabs along with stitches, All healing well
• Skin donor site on my leg is healing well. Looks red and I apply a cream to avoid dryness and itchiness.
• Neck trach site is healing well, stiches were removed a week or so ago

I still have swelling both in my throat and on my neck. This is challenging for swallowing and speaking.

I was on a puree only diet however in recent days I have been comfortable expanding to some different things that are easily chewable and can swallow well. This helps expand some "menu" items and as always any progress is great no matter how small! Speaking is improving I'm told however I don't notice it but when I think back a week or two I can recall that there have been strides forward.

Still having some pain with my neck and am continuing doing the exercises for my shoulders/neck to help restore movement and alleviate pain. Naps are needed but their frequency has diminished.

Looking ahead, I will be undergoing radiation therapy however no chemotherapy. I have an appointment this coming week where they will create the mask I will wear to keep me steady and go over what will happen in about a couple of weeks. This is Edmonton at the Cross Cancer Institute.

Hopefully will heal some more before this begins as it is likely that I will encounter some irritation and a possible temporary side effect is that things may taste "off".

We have been so fortunate and are so grateful for all the kindness, care, and professionalism of  all the medical experts and in particular the nurses at U of A hospital. Thank you again to everyone and it's hard to believe we are almost in September but I look forward to the coming weeks and am hoping the radiation does what it needs to without too sever side effects.

Lots of Love!! Carlisle 

Aug 15, 2021

Resting at home update!!

Good Morning, just a little update from home. We have been home since Wednesday the 4th of August, so it’s been a week and a few days.

We have been busy, with daily arm dressing changes. On Thursday the 5th the Home Care Nurse came to our house. Then told us, they couldn’t do Military members….weird situation….there was paperwork put in when Carlisle was still in the hospital. So that the nurse could come and change the arm dressings.  

So I got on the phone, to get things worked out. Carlisle’s voice still isn’t up to talking lots, so I had to make calls. If you know me, its not my favorite thing to do, but we got things worked out. 

Friday to Sunday we had to drive in to the Health center daily to get Carlisle’s dressing changed. Then Monday we went to the hospital on base.

So we went Monday to Wednesday at the base hospital, and then I got enough dressing supplies so I could change Carlisle’s arm dressing. We go back this Monday to make sure things are looking good. 

On Wednesday we went to the Base hospital to get Carlisle’s  stitches removed by his trachea area, then we went to the  Cold Lake hospital to get blood work done. Needed to get blood work done at the CL hospital, so that the results will be assessable to the Alberta health records, so the surgeon can see the results. We will go back next week as well. We had another hospital adventure, like always….😎 but they figured it out. They ended up taking blood from Carlisle’s foot, because the one arm can’t be used, the lab tech (not sure of her name) couldn’t use the other arm because Carlisle had the picc taken out recently, so his foot was the next best thing.

So I have been nursing Carlisle back to health, with dressing changes, and covering his arm before his shower with a garbage bag and tape. Need to keep his arm graft are dry as possible.

So Carlisle is on a puréed diet, things are hard to swallow if they aren’t smooth. So we have a food processor, and margarita blender. These didn’t blend the food smooth enough, so Carlisle had ordered a blender, we are addicted to watching America’s Test Kitchen, and they review products, so they had talked about blenders, way before Carlisle’s surgery, so it was on our list to buy. So Carlisle ordered it, but it said it would be ten or so days to be delivered.  

So Carlisle and I went to Canadian Tire on Thursday and picked up a blend, and bonus it was on sale.  We brought it home and tried it out, it worked better then what I was using.  So Friday morning, the door bell rings, it’s the Postal lady or another delivery driver.  Guess what it is??  That’s right the other blender.   

So this one works better, I had to drop Veronica off at work, so I picked up a couple cheese burgers. And pureed them up for Carlisle. It can blend just about anything we are eating. Oh ya and I made a chocolate Milkshake for dessert tonight. Okay so here’s the names of the blends- CT (Canadian Tire) Black + Decker 10-speed blender and our ATK (America’s Test Kitchen) top pick Breville blender.

Carlisle also shaved off his beard, and Veronica gave him a haircut.

Carlisle is healing, some days he has more cat naps then other days. He looks healed on the outside, but inside things are still healing. 

We are heading to Edmonton on the 19th to see the surgeon and then he has an appointment at the Cross cancer clinic on Friday.  So check back for more updates.

Thanks again for everyone’s love….still healing to do!!! 🥰