Re: drummer in need of prayer
- From: "Sean Conolly" <sjconolly_98@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 01:25:31 -0500
Randy, I can speak to this with first hand experience, which I never have in
all the years I've hung out here. Back in the early 90s I had a strange
tumor that popped up on my neck. It grew very slowly and didn't cause any
pain, but when I had it removed, twice, it came back stronger than before.
Turned out it was a pretty rare beast (they said I was only the 19th case
recorded in the US) and was actually a very lethal condition. It grows so
slowly that chemo or radiation is useless. You either remove it before it
goes systemic, or you die. Survival rate for third removals like mine was
somewhere south of 20%.
Once it was diagnosed the prescription was a radical neck dissection. In my
case I was very, very lucky that as I was being taken in to the O.R. the
national expert in this condition ruled that I could keep my vocal chords.
Instead they just took out a big chunk from the side of my neck, like an
oversized ice cream scoop. Two inches of my jugular, all the muscles and
tendons shortened, and a scar running from the back of neck zig-zag around
to my chest and back to my left armpit.
There were complications with such a long incision, and I had a patch about
four square inches that went necrotic, but couldn't be touched without
compromising the rest of the surgery. Fortunately my wife was a top notch
wound care nurse, so we were able to keep things under control until the
necrotic piece finally came off, and we then got the skin to close up
without needing a skin graft. Along the way I also came up with a bad
infection of C-Diff (amoebic) which put me back into the hospital for a few
days while they got everything cleared up. I remember sitting in the
bathroom with uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea at the same time, seeing
myself in the mirror with this 14' long incision fully stitched, several
drainage tubes hanging down to little bladders full of watery blood, and a
nice sized chunk of black crusty flesh in the middle to top it all off. If
it had been Halloween I could have been a real hit.
About six weeks post-op I finally decided it was time to see what I had
left. The whole left side of my head and neck felt locked together, and I
could hardly hang my left arm down, but using a trad grip with a serious
tilt on the snare I could still play. Over time everything loosened up and I
can play fine now and I came out looking OK, still really tight on the left
side but it only looks out of balance if I lean my head to the right. I
still have a hard time looking over my right shoulder so I learned to how to
maneuver a car in reverse using only the mirrors. The medical bills tanked
my career as a musician and I had to switch back to engineering work, but it
sure beats the alternative.
So in my case I have to say that it changed me and my life forever. The
important thing is that although pretty much everything changed, nothing was
really lost. It's been eleven years now and I thank God there have been no
more tumors or complications. Me and the family are still here, a little
worse for wear but we're all still grateful to have each other.
Yes I was lucky, mine was on the more conservative side of radical. Some
folks have a lot more tissue removed and the results can be much more
debilitating. Sometimes God just drop kicks you to the other end of the
field, and all you can do is take the bounce and do whatever you can with
what you got left. You don't get to choose what happens, you only get to
choose your response.
If you think it might help I'd be more than glad to talk with Mike directly.
I don't think this is a very common procedure, and it has a special terror
for drummers who need free movement of their arms to play. And of course
I'll keep him in my prayers.
Sean
.
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