Pre Op was today

Diane spent the morning at Kaiser in Oakland doing Pre Op for next Wednesday's surgery. Everything is all set, with a little nervousness and a little anxiety, but overall a positive feeling that it's going to be OK.
For those wanting to bring meals or help out by spending some time with Danielle, Kathy Fuller set up an online calendar. To log on to go to www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/605836/
You will be asked for your email address. Kathy gets your request and once you're added, you will receive an email back with a link to set up your own password and agree to the websites privacy policy. Now you will be ready to click on the calendar and schedule yourself to help.
We really appreciate it! Danielle will appreciate the time spent with her as well, she has already seen the movie "Wall-E "three times and loves it!

Surgery Date set for Aug 6. GOODBYE cancer!

The surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug 6th. It will be about a 6 hour surgery, and anywhere from 3 to 10 days in the hospital! There is always a chance we would have to split open the jaw and do the radial arm patch, but there was very encouraging news from the Doctor, and after viewing Dianes mouth with a scope, he said it looks very "healthy"and the tumor in her lymph node was small. There is a (small) chance she doesn't need radiation afterwards too! Thanks for all the notes and cards, e-mails and positive words and thoughts during this time, it means a lot to Diane (and me). For those that want to help with a meal plan, go to Dianeshelpers@gmail.com and the wonderful Kathy Fuller is coordinating that.
At this time Diane feels like she does not want any visitors to the hospital, or for the first few days when she comes home. It will be very hard for her to talk and will be in pain, so we let you know when she is up (mentally and physically) for visits.

Surgery Appt.

After meeting with the Surgeon today at Kaiser, it seems like the surgery coming up will not be as bad as we feared.
Let's back up:
4 weeks ago, when the Dr Fong looked at Dianes throat, (it was 2 days after her tonsillectomy), and he saw very sore tissue, all swollen from her tonsil being taken out. It was hard to tell what was swollen or the cancer at that point. He told us about the proposed surgery, a procedure where they split open the jaw by cutting open the skin from the bottom lip to the chin. Then if they cut out so much tissue inside the mouth, (they can't leave a big gaping hole there), they borrow living tissue from the inside wrist and attach it to the hole in the mouth by connecting the blood vessels to it. And then they take skin from the leg to patch the hole in the wrist! YEOOWWZY. This was on our minds for 4 weeks.
But today... The Doctor looked inside Dianes mouth with a camera (we saw it on the monitor!) and he was very impressed with the recovery from the tonsillectomy. Her tissue looks good, and all the swelling has gone down. He doubts they have to split open the jaw, YEAYYY ! and perhaps not even having to do the "radial patch" where they transplant the tissue from the arm.

Surgery is expected to be around the 1st week of August, with a recovery time in the hospital of 3 days to 10 days, depending on what they find inside her mouth.

Start here

Well, this is a first for us, starting this blog, and we are trying it because so many friends have wanted to help us, and find out what the newest development is in this fight against the cancer.
To start at the beginning, Diane was diagnosed with Squamous cell carcinoma (cancer) when she went in for a sore throat/enlarged lymph node in the neck. After taking out her tonsil, they discovered it was cancer, and it metastisized (spread) to the lymph node on her neck.
The doctors feel that this might have been caused by the radiation she had 17 years ago for Hodgkins Lymphoma. (which is cancer of the lymph system). Hodgkins is a very curable type of cancer, if you were to pick one to get, that would be the one.