This might be seen as not the place and what else, but I am going to throw this out there… I am most probably breaking my own rules and believes around what is acceptable and what not on a forum like this.
I am cross, confused and many many more things that I have no way of explaining, but most of all I am scared and terribly worried.
My little 10 year old daughter has been diagnosed with cancer on the 12th of August. She has a Cancerous tumour in the area where the hard pallet becomes soft pallet/throat. This cancer can not be treated with Radiation/Chemo and has to be removed surgically.
At first the plans were to operate on her at the end of September, but scans last week showed that the cancer has entered the “facial” nerve system and that its on its way to the brain. They immediately opened a space for her on the next available operating list (Tomorrow) and she will be going in at 7 to be prepped for 8.
From the scans they determined, they would need to remove a piece of the top jaw, a piece of the hard and a piece of the soft pallet. They further need to remove at least 1cm on all sides of the tumour (that will be a piece roughly the size of a golf ball) . Then they have to cut the nerves responsible for feeling in the left side of the face. Lastly they say there is a 99% change that she will be left with a serious speech defect and might in fact need therapy to learn to talk again, but the defect might be a life long struggle.
My reason for posting here, to be honest I dont know… She will need all the support and prayers I can gather.
Please keep Skye in your prayers and thoughts tomorrow.
I should most probably lock this thread as well as delete it after tomorrow, but till the opp is done, I feel compelled to keep it here.
Firstly, thanks again for all the prayers and support.
All went well, way above any expectation. The surgeon was smiling form ear to ear when he left the theatre. They only ended up doing about 25% of the procedure they have planned for her.
The tumour came out without any issues and they had to cut the nerves as planned because the cancer were already on its wat to the brain using the nerves as a highway… Se will loose sensation of the left side of the pallet as well as the left side of the face. And there is where everything stopped.
They did not need to remove the part of the jaw as well as the part of the hard and soft pallet as previously planned. This resulted in a much smaller cavity than planned so they also did not need to move tissue from the cheek area to fill up this cavity. They had to cut through muscle that will affect swallowing and speech, but the awesome thing, it will only be temporary. Her speech as well as other functions of the mouth and throat should restore to normal within a few weeks.
The first prognoses expected both those functions to be effected for life.
We always prepare and talk about the worst case scenario, but in her case she came out of theatre with the “Best case scenario” giving her the best chance ever to be 100% cancer free with the absolute minimal long term effects, giving her the opportunity to have a normal life.
Man we could not ask for a better outcome .
She will still be monitored for a week and the pathologist has to clear her and ensure that no cancer spreads through the borders of the removed part… we will only know if we are out of the woods by next Tuesday.
