It’s been ten weeks since the surgery to remove my tumor. It’s been six weeks since the surgery to give my facial muscles a bit of a boost to get going again. These last weeks have been an adventure for me.
It was an adventure to be in the hospital for four days. It was an adventure to recover. Now, I’m dealing with a new adventure. It’s the adventure of getting my voice back to what it was.
After the tumor was removed, it also meant the disconnection of facial nerves close to it. That’s why I underwent the second surgery, intended to reconnect the facial muscles to new nerves. At the same time, the muscles on the left side of my face were also internally boosted to give them some help.
An adventure takes a while. Maybe a better analogy is that this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Six weeks after the second surgery, the left side of my mouth still doesn’t work as it did before. When I talk, it doesn’t move. Well, it does move, but not the way I want to. Sometimes when I talk, my left cheek puffs out.
I have problems pronouncing the letter “s.” I have problems with a few others as well. Want to find out what it’s like? Hold your lips together on one side of your mouth, then talk. It won’t be exactly the same, but it’s similar.
Then there’s the problem of opening my mouth. My jaw movements are restricted thanks to the surgery. It makes it hard to eat some things, as I really can’t open my mouth wide enough to eat a hot dog, or bite down on an apple. In the two times I’ve been to Five Guys since the surgery, I had to take a knife and fork to cut up my hamburger.
But, I think all of this will pass, if not completely, then mostly. I had a good surgeon do the reconstruction. Dr. Daniel Alam of Cleveland Clinic really understands reconstructive surgery.
Thing is, this will take time. He told me it will take likely six months for the muscles and nerves to start working properly again. Until then, I sound sometimes like the town drunk when I talk. And that’s part of the reason that starting this week, I’ll be switching to the evening shift at WTAM 1100. I’m not sounding the way I used to. Management wants to give me time to get my delivery back to what it was. Until then, they’re moving me into a different shift. I’ll be anchoring evenings (the entire evening from 7pm-Midnight on the nights we don’t have an Indians game). This may be for six months. It may be quicker.
I’m looking into the possibility of speech therapy. Dr. Alam and his assistants may say it’s a good idea. They may say why bother, as your facial expression will change. We’ll see.
In the meantime, keep listening. Keep praying for me. I’m an impatient person by nature, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the past ten weeks, is that I need patience. God may work miracles, but they don’t always happen overnight.
It was an adventure to be in the hospital for four days. It was an adventure to recover. Now, I’m dealing with a new adventure. It’s the adventure of getting my voice back to what it was.
After the tumor was removed, it also meant the disconnection of facial nerves close to it. That’s why I underwent the second surgery, intended to reconnect the facial muscles to new nerves. At the same time, the muscles on the left side of my face were also internally boosted to give them some help.
An adventure takes a while. Maybe a better analogy is that this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Six weeks after the second surgery, the left side of my mouth still doesn’t work as it did before. When I talk, it doesn’t move. Well, it does move, but not the way I want to. Sometimes when I talk, my left cheek puffs out.
I have problems pronouncing the letter “s.” I have problems with a few others as well. Want to find out what it’s like? Hold your lips together on one side of your mouth, then talk. It won’t be exactly the same, but it’s similar.
Then there’s the problem of opening my mouth. My jaw movements are restricted thanks to the surgery. It makes it hard to eat some things, as I really can’t open my mouth wide enough to eat a hot dog, or bite down on an apple. In the two times I’ve been to Five Guys since the surgery, I had to take a knife and fork to cut up my hamburger.
But, I think all of this will pass, if not completely, then mostly. I had a good surgeon do the reconstruction. Dr. Daniel Alam of Cleveland Clinic really understands reconstructive surgery.
Thing is, this will take time. He told me it will take likely six months for the muscles and nerves to start working properly again. Until then, I sound sometimes like the town drunk when I talk. And that’s part of the reason that starting this week, I’ll be switching to the evening shift at WTAM 1100. I’m not sounding the way I used to. Management wants to give me time to get my delivery back to what it was. Until then, they’re moving me into a different shift. I’ll be anchoring evenings (the entire evening from 7pm-Midnight on the nights we don’t have an Indians game). This may be for six months. It may be quicker.
I’m looking into the possibility of speech therapy. Dr. Alam and his assistants may say it’s a good idea. They may say why bother, as your facial expression will change. We’ll see.
In the meantime, keep listening. Keep praying for me. I’m an impatient person by nature, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the past ten weeks, is that I need patience. God may work miracles, but they don’t always happen overnight.
