It's a What???!!
Back in 2007, I was living in Idaho and woke up one morning with a strange bump on my face. I immediately went to our family doctor, who ordered a CT scan, and then was referred to an E.N.T for further diagnosis. The ENT was confident it was called a Perotid Cyst because of the fact that the inflammation had gone down in size. He said it was not a tumor because tumors steadily grew larger, while cysts fluctuated in size due to the fluid that was in them. He said not to worry about it and there was no reason to treat it unless I didn't like the cosmetic look of it or if it caused any physical problems. So.....fast forward 8 years........I had left it alone because my hair usually covered it and most people didn't even notice it. It had also never physically bothered me, until now.
Right after Christmas, I noticed that I always felt a pressure-like sensation in my cheek, right where the bump was. Pretty soon, a full yawn was painful. It became uncomfortable for me to eat, especially things that required a large bite into it,like a big sandwich. It became so annoying I decided to go to the doctor. We are now living in Utah, so I went to a different ENT. I brought my Idaho medical records with me. Upon review, he noticed there were contradictory statements in the records. At one point, the Idaho Dr. referred to it as a "cyst" and in another spot he referred to it as a "mass". Apparently, these two words are a HUGE difference, so he wanted to look at the original scans to get a clear idea of what he was dealing with. The scans were delivered to the new ENT within 24hours and I got a phone call that infuriated me. My Utah Dr. said that without a doubt, the "mass" was indeed a tumor and needed to be removed right away. He said, "I don't know what your doctor was thinking; this was a tumor back then and should've been removed 8 years ago!" The original size of the tumor at the time of discovery was large enough that it should've been treated immediately. My Utah Dr. was concerned about how large it could be now after 8 years of growth.
A Perotidectomy (removal of the perotid gland) was scheduled exactly one week from that phone call. I was scared to death. I had never had a surgery with general anesthesia and it made me nervous. The other thing that hadn't been mentioned yet was the possibility of the dreaded c-word....cancer. Going in to the surgery, the doctor seemed optimistic, as these types of tumors had a relatively low cancer rate, however I couldn't get the thought out of my mind. Along with that scare was the other possibility of facial paralysis. The gland/tumor lies right on your main facial nerve, so surgery is always risky.
The day of surgery came and I was lucky to have a personable anesthesiologist who said he would assure me a great experience of going "under". I have to say he did a great job! Whatever he gave me pre-op worked well to calm my nerves and I came out of it easily without any nausea or complications. The surgery was longer than expected, 3 hours! It turned out that the tumor was slightly larger than a ping pong ball and had wrapped itself around one of the nerves that controls facial muscles around my eye. He said that had I left the tumor alone, it would have gradually constricted the nerve and I would have had permanent nerve damage to that area.
After the surgery, I only stayed at the hospital long enough for the anesthesia to wear off. I returned home with a drain in place on my neck and some prescription pain killers. At home, the pain actually came from the drain, not the incision! I was tired but coherent and settled into a spot on the couch to rest. We had to switch out the drain vials about every 3-4 hours until the next morning when I returned to the Dr.'s office to have it removed. It was at this time that he gave some unsettling facts about the surgery. The left side of my face was temporarily paralyzed. He said that he "angered" the nerves during surgery, causing them to stop working. It will be a matter of weeks to possibly months until I get full control of my left side again. I pray he is right. I don't consider myself a vain person, but the thought of having a droopy left side of my face makes me feel very insecure about myself! He also said that it is standard procedure to cut the nerve that controls feeling to my ear. At this time, I have no feeling in my left ear and the immediate area around it on my head. He said that it could take 6 months to a year to get it back!! Oh well, I guess you don't really need feeling in your ear, do you? My hearing in my left ear is just fine. The last thing I was worried about is the space where the tumor was.....it now looks like a crater by my ear! He said that it will naturally fill in "a little",but I will always have an indentation where the tumor was. My kids think it looks gross, and I have to admit, it kinda freaks me out too! I hope it fills in a little quickly!
I have an incision about 5 inches down the side of my face, with lovely white tape covering it for the next two weeks. I will post a pic of that soon. I will post pics of the incision healing over time as well. My scar shouldn't be too noticeable after 6 months from what I've been told and I am optimistic.
So now, all I can do is rest, the pain isn't bad at all. I'm trying to only take ibuprofen as needed. I am still waiting for the lab results of the tumor itself, but am also optimistic that the Dr. is right and that it will be benign. When I think about the whole story, I get mad at the Dr. in Idaho who didn't know what he was talking about, but at least I wound up in the care of a competent Dr. here in Utah and have had the problem resolved! What a crazy week!
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