First appointment

Not sure if this really counts as a "first appointment" (December 17, 2009) since it's my third opinion. But, it was the first appointment with the third (and final?) doctor.

Thursday I went to see Dr. Randy Weber at M.D. Anderson in Houston, TX. I've known for nearly 2 years that I've had a third recurrence of a pleomorphic adenoma (right side). My first parotidectomy was in September 1998; second in December 2004. The surgeon that performed the first 2 surgeries (Dr. Gene Alford) had an accident in 2007 and is no longer able to perform such a complicated surgery. He referred me to Dr. Don Donovan. Both doctors advised me to avoid radiation and put off surgery a little longer. My tumor is obviously growing and surgery can't be put off much longer. I do not want to have a 4th surgery so I wanted to consider radiation. If it causes a malignancy down the road, I'll deal with that later. So, that's what took me to MD Anderson.

I knew going into the appointment that I had a "complicated" issue. The doctors kept repeating that to me during this appointment. (Did I mention that I had to wait 2 1/2 hours to actually see the doctor?) I didn't realize the gravity of the situation going into it. Dr. Weber strongly advised surgery and 6 weeks of daily radiation. They are making no promises to preserve function of my facial nerve. I knew that was a risk, but they didn't give me much hope. It sounds like the best scenario is temporary paralysis and not permanent. They also said that the nodules are in my skin and the skin would need to be removed. A plastic surgeon will either pull the skin tight on my face (a facelift at 36!) or do a skin graft from my arm, chest or leg. He'll also do a nerve graft (from my leg) if they damage a branch of the facial nerve.

I have several appointments coming up with Radiology, Plastics, Ear specialist, Audiology consult, and dental. They originally scheduled surgery for one week after my daughter's jaw surgery. I thought that would work, but my pre-op appointments are scheduled for the day before & day of her surgery. Obviously that won't work so I've sent an email requesting re-scheduled dates. Hopefully I'll hear back on Monday.

Several months ago I found a someone's blog chronicling their experience with a pleomorphic adenoma (surgeries & radiation). It was helpful to have an idea of what to expect. Maybe someone will stumble across this and find it helpful. I'll try to keep up with what's going on throughout the journey. I can't say that I'm looking forward to it, but I'm in a better place mentally today than I was on Thursday. The idea of losing function in half of my face is nauseating to say the least. But, I have to believe in a God that has a plan for me and will get me through this just like He has for everything else.