Subject: BS: Curmudgeon: Voice Restoration, Part 2
From:
Bat Goddess
Date: 28 Nov 10 - 06:28 PM
It's time to start this thread as I need to email friends not on Facebook and who don't regularly check Mudcat on where to find updates while Tom and I are in Boston.
Tonight I trim Tom's beard, cut it way back under his chin and on his neck and so he can shave there (for the first time in YEARS). This time the incision will be through his neck rather than accessing the area via his throat. We head to Boston by train early on Wednesday -- first to Mass Eye & Ear for a CT scan, then up to 1 Bowdoin Square to see Dr. Zeitels, then to Beacon House, affiliated with Mass General, where we'll be staying for a week.
Thursday morning (Dec. 2) Tom will have surgery at Mass General -- he'll be awake during this surgery (though probably on some serious relaxation drugs) while Dr. Z installs a Gore-Tex flap and then tunes it ("like a guitar string"). Tom has to be awake so he can respond -- we don't want him sounding like Wayne Newton! And, since it's Gore-Tex and weatherproof, that means Tom will be able to sing in the rain, right?
The schlepping is complicated by the fact that I sprained my right knee last Sunday at work. Spent most of Monday at Lee Urgent Care. Woke up Tuesday with an annoying side effect of the med. Spent most of Tuesday sorting that out. A couple nights of poor sleeping -- have to sleep on my back (not my normal position), almost sitting up and with two pillows propping my knee. Wednesday was better and Wednesday night I actually was able to sleep on my side -- except then I hobbled around all Thanksgiving. Sigh. Haven't yet worked out the right combo of meds so I can get to sleep, stay asleep, and not wake up way too early. I was back to work today, but I'm not looking forward to all the walking I'll have to do in Boston despite knee brace and cane. Wednesday I'll have to carry our gear for the week, since Tom can't. Beacon House is steeply up Beacon Hill -- uphill from the hospital, Whole Foods, restaurants, etcet. There's a shuttle between Beacon House and the hospital, but at limited times.
Not sure if there's a computer at Beacon House from which I can update this thread. If there isn't, I'll call Jeri or Sinsull and have them update things.
Tom will spend Thursday night in the hospital. Then for 48 hours he can't utter a sound. For the next 2-3 weeks, he can only speak as loud as for someone less than an arm's length away to hear. And he'll be back on a low acid reflux diet -- no caffeine, no alcohol, no carbonation, no citrus, no tomatoes, no onions & peppers...no nothin'. The accommodations are kitchenette, so at least I can lay in provisions from Whole Foods -- rotisserie chicken, frozen meat loaf & mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, etc. We have to stick close to the hospital for 4-6 days in case of any bleeding or problems. Sutures should come out about 6 days after surgery.
I'm hoping we can come home the following Wednesday (Dec. 8th) if not before. I'm sure I'll run out of paid time off. Don't know yet if Tom will need further procedures or voice therapy or what. But who knows, maybe he'll have a voice by Christmas...
Linn
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sj
