Surgery 6- Spring Break of 2008
This surgery was to close a fistula (a hole) in my palate that never closed up. We like to call this hole the “noodle hole”, because I was able to put a spaghetti noodle into my mouth and within a little bit I was able to push it up and through the hole that connected to my nose and pull the noodle out my nose! It was rather impressive to my older brothers J
This surgery was one of the very rare surgeries that it was left to just my mom and I. My dad took Lauren and Sam snowboarding for spring break while my mom and I stayed home and went through surgery #6! In this surgery my doctor tried to take surrounding tissue in my mouth and graft it together to fill in the hole, but unfortunately later on we found that the surgery was not entirely successful. It made a small difference but not enough to have fully closed up my hole. Which leads us to surgery #7 and #8.
Surgery #7- Summer of 2009
Because the last surgery tissue graft was unsuccessful for me there was one more procedure that could be performed to close this fistula. A two part, tongue sewing surgery.
On July 22, 2009 I went in for part 1 of a 2 step process of fully closing up this hole. In this surgery Dr. Dierks cut a “U” shape flap on the top of the tongue, folded it back and stuffed it up into the hole and sewed it in for 3 weeks. This part 1 was to graft my tongue tissue into the fistula. This surgery was one of the most panicking surgeries I’ve had. The first couple of nights were hard as I would continually bleed and have to have my mouth rinsed out with a syringe. The syringe would become a main helping tool throughout these 3 weeks. Try to imagine having your tongue sewn up and the challenge behind trying to eat and breathe. I had a panic attack one evening as I was trying to breathe and get used to having my tongue sewn up. But my mom was there every step of the way as she would keep me focused and would help me calm down and breathe. Another challenge for me was the diet I had to be on. As you could imagine trying to eat would be a challenge with a tongue sewn up. I started with only being on liquids, the nurses supplied us with a few different sizes of syringes. A couple small, medium and a huge one! I used the syringes to squirt liquids to the back of my throat so that I could get some things down. As the days progressed I was soon able to use the syringe to get a few jamba juices down, which I made a minor mess with one of those in a car J. We used the syringe to get down anything we could. From yogurts to even spaghetti o’s, but those made a mess for me one day as I tried to force it through the syringe, but I soon found out that the syringe couldn’t take the pressure and it exploded out the top! Soon I “graduated” from the fat syringe to baby spoons and even baby food. By the end of the 3 weeks I was able to cut up steak extremely small and fit a baby spoon to the back of my mouth and make do with that! :)
Surgery 8- Summer of 2009
3 weeks later I went back in to the hospital to get my tongue unsewn from the top of my palate. On that same day my sister Lauren would be flying in from spending 6-7 months in Ecuador! So we went in to the hospital early that morning, just as most if not all of my surgeries were at 7:30/ 8:30 in the morning. Which usually meant we would have to get up at 5 and be there 2 hours in advance for pre-op. Not the most pleasant thing, but I always loved watching the sunrise on the way up to the hospital in Portland. :) My doctor detached my tongue from the roof of my mouth and to this day I have a small patch of tongue attached to the roof of my mouth filling in the hole. It almost feels natural when I put my tongue back to the position it was in for 3 weeks, almost but not quite..I also got my front teeth removed in this surgery, as the roots of them were dying so the doctor decided it'd be best to combine pulling them out while I was already out for this surgery. I later was able to get an appliance that holds 5 fake teeth on a retainer. This is a "flipper" or better known as temporary implants. I went home the same day of my surgery and I felt good enough to make it back up to the airport with my family that evening to greet Lauren as she came back from Ecuador! :)
My dad's fun joke while I had my tongue sewn up was that I sounded just like Sid the Sloth from Ice Age. We went to see the second ice age I believe it was and I remember him leaning over in the theater and telling me how I sounded just like him haha! Something that's always gotten me through these surgeries is not only God, but as well as the positive spirit and attitude that we bring with it. My family is likes to laugh a lot and have fun as well as being serious when the time is needed, but having a family that's easy going and fun makes these surgeries all that much easier. Being able to laugh at yourself and turn what seems to be extremely hard into something positive makes the current circumstance not seem so hard afterall. "Attitude is Altitude"
This surgery was a challenge, especially the diet. I believe I dropped like 8-10 pounds in this surgery. My mom tried to get me to drink an Ensure through a syringe, but I drank about half of one of those and quit, they weren't so appetizing to me :) especially when you have to drink it through a syringe, it's that much more unpleasant. But I made it through, as I make it through all of my surgeries. The power of prayer makes so much difference, something as simple as praying can change anything. We always have been surrounded by family and friends who have prayed for me and these surgeries. I believe that prayer makes quite the difference.
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