DanielYKL

Greetings! Praise God, I can’t believe that I have just gone thru’ one of the most traumatic experienced in my life. A 10 hour Laryngectomy Surgery. Yes, the surgeons put me on anaesthetic for 10 hours and then removed my larynx “voice box” and thyroid, and cleaned up the tumor cells in and around the areas. And prior to that, the doctors made a “stoma,” a hole just below my neck for me to breathe. And to do this, they only use local anaesthetic, and I was conscious and could hear voices around me while they performed the surgery. This lasted for just a few minutes, in which time I feel like I’m on a “LSD high”. Then they put me on general anaesthetic before the Laryngectomy surgery. The stoma is a where I breathe as the windpipe from my nose and mouth to my lungs has been cut off. I now breathe directly thru’ this stoma for the rest of my life. Few things I can’t do now, I can’t talk but I can still hear, can’t smell and can’t go swimming for the rest of my life. Have to learn to adapt and adjust to this new body. I’ll get there!

The surgery took place on the 12th February 2007. I was hospitalized for 17 days at the Penang Genaral Hospital, on which I was only fed with milk thru’ a tube from my nose directly to the stomach. Thank God for the wonderful surgeons who did a great job on the surgery and all the nurses and medical assistants who took good care of me during my recovery period. Now I’m back home, recuperating from the surgery.  I’m now eating soft liquid food thru’ my mouth, like milk, Milo, blended liquefied food, soup etc… for the next 3 months. Thank you all for your support, encouragement, gifts and most of all your prayers. Thank you Andrew Khoo, you have been a great help. I owe you one.

Our God is Sovereign! He is in control in all circumstances.  He is truly our refuge and strength, our very present help in trouble.(Psalms 46:1). As I was lying in the hospital bed the Lord ministered to me thru’ his words  - “There came again and touched me one like appearance of a man, and he strengthened me , and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened.” (Daniel 10:18-19).  Once again God has walked with me thru’ another chapter of my life. Now I can only sing in my heart “let everything that has breath, praise the Lord God Almighty, the Author and Finisher of our Faith.”

Brief history: I was diagnosed with stage 2 larynx cancer on November 2005. Did a 33 courses of radiotherapy at the Mount Miriam Hospital. On January 2007, there was a recurrence and this time its at 4th stage. After consulting with some doctors, the only hope I have is surgery.

(I copied down parts of the reports from the surgery lab reports, whatever that means. The reports say that there is no more evidence of malignancy in the surrounding areas. Praise God!)

Microscopic Report From The Surgery.

Section shows infiltrating malignant cells of transglattic area formed by nests, sheets and solid islands of malignant squamoid epithelial cells. The tumor cells are markely pleomorphic with hyperchromatic nuclei and prominent nucleoli. Mitotic activitity is noted. Intercellular bridges and keratin pearls are seen. Inflammatory and desmoplastic responses are noted in surrounding stoma. Necrosis is seen in focal areas. No lymphovascular permeation is seen. The thyroid cartilage is focally infiltrated by malignant tumor cells. The epiglottis, right and left thyroid lobes, tracheal excision margin, base of tongue, anterior and posterior soft tissue, shows no evidence of malignancy. No muscular invasion seen in the section taken. The pre-tracheal fat shows fibroadipose tissue with 3 reactive lymph nodes identified and few scattered lymphoid aggregates with absence of malignant cell infiltration.
 

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 3rd, 2007 at 11:13 pm and is filed under LIFE, LARYNGECTOMY. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.