Today I went back to the hospital for a check up, the first for 3 weeks. My last check up was done by the Oncologist in the Oncology Department but I am now back in the care of the ENT clinic in Outpatients. So back to the same clinic where my cancer journey started in February 2013. Feels like years ago now! I wasn't looking forward to today for two reasons. Firstly I had been warned to expect the camera up the nose thing which I hate, and secondly because there is no improvement whatsover with my hearing and I was very worried how I was going to communicate. Fortunately it all went very well, mainly because I had prepared my questions and my husband had a notepad to write all the answers down on.
We were shown into a room and there were 6 people sitting round the table. There was the Consultant who did both my operations, two Doctors who I remember coming to see me after my neck dissection operation, two junior doctors and a speech therapist. I handed over my list of questions and they had a good read and I got them all answered OK. Then it was camera up the nose time, but I was offered the choice of a local anaesthetic spray first so I said yes please and it wasn't as bad as before. They said there is still a lot of mucus, but there is no damage to my voicebox so my voice will eventually return. They also said I'm in better condition than most people are at this stage.
I had asked if I could try eating and drinking yet. The speech therapist fetched a cup of water and I tried a few sips while she felt my throat. She said I had a good swallowing action so she went and got a bowl of weetabix and milk. I hate weetabix but I had a go and ate two mouthfuls. So I can now try to eat and drink a little more each day. I also have permission to get back on my exercise bike and get the dumbbells out again. Best of all I am now allowed to go back to using all my normal products for cleaning my teeth. It's been driving me mad trying to get my teeth clean with just a soft manual brush. Now I can use the electric toothbrush again and my floss and interspace brushes. Just in the nick of time as I can see gum disease building up already. In a month or two I can go back to my dentist and the hygienist.
I did ask if they had any idea when I will get my scan but they only repeated what I have been told before. No scan until all the soft tissue damage is repaired or it will give an inaccurate result. Probably about 3 months. They'll assess the situation again at my next ENT clinic appointment which is in 6 weeks time. However I'm going back to the hospital on Saturday to the Hearing Aid Clinic. They said my hearing loss ("glue ear") could take 3 months to disappear, so they are going to see if I am suitable for some temporary hearing aids. I really hope so. It would be lovely to be able to hear music again.
