Posts Tagged ‘cancer’

Hello again.  No I didn’t die.  I’m sorry for the delay with this chapter but every once in awhile I have a problem with tendonitis in my arms and have to take a break from typing for them to get better.  I feel better now.  OK,  where was I…………..

I woke up the next morning and was surprised to find that I was still alive.  Not only was I alive but I actually felt better!  I think it was because I had finally slept that night.  For the next couple of days the doctors kept and eye on me to see how far the allergic reaction would progress but it looked like it had stopped and that I might be OK.  They released me a few days later and I went home.  I still had this feeling like something was around the corner and I wasn’t out of the woods yet.   When you have been through so many health issues you start to get a bit paranoid that every little bump,pain or weird thing is another deadly illness.  I drove my wife crazy with all of my concerns and questions during this time.

A couple of weeks later, I noticed that there were what seemed like large bumps in my neck that I had never noticed before. Another question to bother my wife with……. My wife took a look and she said that my lymph nodes were really swollen and enlarged.  We called my doctor and of course she gave me the advice she always did back then………”Go to the Mass General Emergency room”.  My doctors would always give me the line “Considering your medical history you should go to the emergency room………better to be safe than sorry.”

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Ok,  I have my emotions contained again and can go on with the story.  After the doctor told me I couldn’t play the saxophone again, I think I  was in a bit of a shock.  After a while, I started to feel pretty depressed.  I remember my friends and family members coming in and trying to cheer me up.  They were listing all of my talents and telling me about all the other things I would be great at as far as choosing another line of work.  Some even suggested neurosurgery but  nothing they said  would cheer me up.

The next day another Doctor came in to talk to me. He was the Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon who had originally opened up my head,  took out my inner ear and sealed up my eustachian tube. I told him what the other Doctor had said about never playing the saxophone again and he told me that he would fix it so that I could still play my sax.  He had worked with many professional musicians over the years and he understod how I felt.  He said he would do whatever it took so that I could continue to play.  I was very relieved after talking to him.

A few days later I went in for the surgery to seal up that eustachion tube permanently.  It wasn’t as big a deal as the first surgery and only took a few hours as I remember.  When I woke up I had that darn bandage on my head and half my head was shaved again.  The ENT Doctor came in who had performed the surgery and he said that the surgery was a success and that I would never have a problem with this issue again.  I don’t know what he did up there, but I’ve gone back to him a few times since then because of headaches and he didn’t even need to do an MRI or anything…….he knew that it wasn’t open again.  He must of sealed that thing shut with super glue or something.
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