It Might Get Messy


A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…that is, when I was a teenager…we were really, really stupid. By which I mean me and my friends. We were particularly stupid in terms of dental health. Specifically, we played a lot of ice hockey without protective gear beyond shin pads. My father, to his eternal grace, insisted I, as a none-too-effective goaltender, wear one of the first commercially available clear fiberglass facemasks. Nobody else wore squat. So that young Master H, pretty much our only true right-handed right winger, who tended to drink heavily before our late-night sorties to whatever rink we’d managed to rent for an hour late on a weekend night, occasionally knocked himself out by sliding headlong into the boards on otherwise graceful breakaways. His incisors chipped themselves away little by little over the years we played. Then there was esteemed Mr. F, refugee from Hawaii, bass player extraordinaire, and defenseman of no mean skills. One surprisingly late spring in a pickup game on Pompton Lake itself (this was before global warming, mind you), Mr. F caught a stick in the face and lost several teeth. We had him driven to the ER while the rest of us searched fruitlessly for his teeth on the roughed out rink, melting chunks of blood and ice to try to recover the missing dentition. We never did. Mr. F got a nice bridge, which interfered not a whit with his bass playing and even occasional background vocals.  


In my case, it may not get as messy dentally or cosmetically as it might have. When I saw Dr. H a month ago, he noted that part of my infected jawbone was still exposed. Since I had an appointment with the oncology dentist a month later, he let it go after renewing my scrip for massively toxic antibiotics. I saw the dentist this week. He says my jaw is completely healed—no exposed bone, no infection. I can go back to my regular dentist and regularly scheduled dental hygiene. I forgot to ask him if I should go off the antibiotics, but since the dentist reported no exposed or infected bone, I’m giving it a shot.


I also saw my lymphedema therapist, Physical Therapist K. She does a very odd sort of massage, gently sliding loose lymph liquid along under my skin to the bits of surviving lymph vessels under my ears, where Dr. H kindly left me unscarred (PT K says that’s a bonus of Dr. H’s skill, that people in my condition generally are cut ear-to-ear and there is no easy place to corral the lymph). She also works to break up the two lengthy scars across my throat and jaw. Two because of the need for three surgical ventures to stem the flow of lymph after my nodes were excised. If the scars can be broken up or at least separated from the underlying muscle masses, the loose lymph fluid can slip away into my neck and chest. But it’s a long-term process. Weeks and weeks more therapy to go.


And I’m good for that. It’s working. My swallowing is better—I can eat at least a bit of solid food and swallow it essentially any time. My face is more symmetrical (it’s never actually been symmetrical, one side being higher than the other. But the lymphedema makes it really misshapen). And it feels better. I gotta wear a bizarre grade B horror movie style mask to help move the lymph around, see following photos:

But again, I’m ok with this. With the infection in my jaw gone, my last real pain is gone. I can function. I’m putting on weight. Basically, I’m making progress. Excellent progress. So here’s the lesson for you, my friends. If I, with my low-to-no pain threshold, complete lack of personal discipline, and none-too-sturdy psychological response to physical challenges, can make it through a year-and-change of cancer therapy and recovery, any and all of you can too. Should the time come—and much as we can hope it won’t, nearly a third of us will die of some sort of cancer-related illness—you can get through something like this. Because if I can, anybody can.


And that’s this week’s lesson. Hang in there, all. Thanks for being here for me. I’m grateful beyond words. And, BTW, my voice continues to improve. Soon, even my words will be understandable! Don’t forget to check a few nature photos over at http://docviper.livejournal.com/, an urban ecosystems book chapter at http://sustainablebiospheredotnet.blogspot.com/, and my professional sustainability weblog and daily pick-of-the-web for Twitter and Facebook at http://www.aehsfoundation.org/ . Thanks again!