MY STORY
By Tony Powers
Taking it one op at a time...
It would be around mid January 2006 that
I noticed that my right gland was swollen
and felt hard to the touch. I thought it was
probably just a blocked gland, but still
made an appointment with the doctor who
prescribed antibiotics – he didn’t think it
was a blocked gland. He also rang the local
hospital, and they asked me
to attend the very next day.
My appointment was with
Miss Dingle, the Senior Head
and Neck Surgeon, who, after a quick
examination, informed me that the lump on
the side of my neck was not in fact a tumour,
but a subsidiary of a very large tumour that
was attached around my voice box. I had a
very severe cancer of the neck.
After a full exploratory examination, I had a
peg tube fitted into my stomach for feeding.
I was then admitted to University Hospital,
Aintree at the beginning of March and
underwent surgery a week later. I had a total
laryngectomy and partial pharyngectomy.
It was a twelve hour operation. For anyone
who doesn’t know the full extent of what’s
involved, my voice box and my Adam’s apple
were removed, while my wind pipe and gullet
were completely reconstructed from skin and
muscle taken from other parts of my body. It
left me with a hole underneath my chin, as
there was no time for them to complete a peg
flap while I was under anaesthetic.
Afterwards, I could only communicate in a
very soft whisper, or by writing things down.
4 THE VOICE | Autumn 2011
The lump on the side of my
neck was not in fact a tumour,
but a subsidiary of a very large
tumour that was attached
around my voice box.
I had a very severe cancer of
the neck.
I had to take all my food and medication
through the tube in my stomach. I also had
to undergo eight weeks of radiotherapy at
Clatterbridge Hospital, with the aim of killing
off any remaining cancer cells (but it’ll still be
another five years before I get the all-clear).
I returned to hospital in September 2006 and
underwent the peg flap major op to try and
cover the two fiscals that remained in my
neck. But it wasn’t until February 2007 that I
was able to start eating very soft foods and
I slowly started to reduce my daily peg feed
to nil.