In late February 2007 I went to see Miss
Dingle again and it was confirmed that I had
a leak in the trachea and liquid was leaking
from my throat into the windpipe. Every time
I went to eat, I would choke on the food, and
the leak just didn’t appear to be healing. So
it was decided that I should go back for a full
investigation in March.
It was a one-day visit that lasted five weeks!
Whilst doing the exploratory operation, my
right lung collapsed twice. The anaesthetist
had pushed the tubing through my windpipe
and down into my lung causing it to flood
and then totally collapse. Because of
that, I had to spend four days in the High
Dependency Unit under total sedation.
The op revealed that my trachea had totally
collapsed because of the soft tissue left
by the radiotherapy. It was another three
weeks before it was deemed safe to do the
necessary surgery to repair it and they had
to go in through an incision in my back. My
right lung had to be deflated again and they
had to push other bits and bobs to one side
to access the back of the windpipe. It was
only meant to be a three-hour operation, but
because of difficulties, ended up lasting ten
hours!
The present prognosis? Well, I am trying to
eat a soft diet, but since the operation to
remove my peg, my throat hasn’t been able to
cope, so, to date, I have had 13 dilations to try
and enlarge the throat. Lots of people have
regular dilatations, and in time, it is hoped
that the stretch will last longer. But in the
meantime, there’ll certainly be plenty more
dilations to come.
Unfortunately, the site continues to leak. It
was meant to take one – two days to heal but
mine was removed in Jan 2008 and it hasn’t
stopped leaking in all that time. I went back
to hospital in December 2009 and then again
in January 2010. At a meeting at Leighton
It was only meant to be a
three-hour operation, but
because of difficulties, ended
up lasting ten hours!
Hospital in February, we found that the best
thing to do was to implant a bard tube for a
couple of months to see if it would heal byitself. At the time of writing, I’m still waiting
for action on this.
Incidentally, totalling up all the preparation
and minor ops to date, I have had fifteen
general anaesthetics and fifteen minor ops
under heavy sedation in the past four years!
?
Do you live in North
or North West London?
Would you like to meet other
local Laryngectomees?
One kind reader would like to set up a new
group in North West London so that you
can:
• Exchange ideas and tips
• Discuss problems
• Celebrate successes
• Make new friends
Contact Jo Lyall on 020 7284 0143
Autumn 2011 | THE VOICE
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