marsupialmum.wordpress.com
Low threshold – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/low-threshold
March 6, 2012. When I last saw my plastic and reconstructive surgeon, one comment stuck with me. Have a low threshold, he recommended. We were talking about recurrence and monitoring. I have a stabbing pain in the joint just below my ear and I’ve not had a scan – xray or CT – since December. If I’m worried by symptoms and it doesn’t feel right, I should have a low threshold for requesting a scan. The pain should get better week on week and month on month. I should worry if it gets worse. It could...Thank...
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
One year – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/one-year
May 9, 2012. Today marks one year since I was diagnosed. One long, testing, amazing, roller-coaster, reflective, challenging, herculean, interminable, silver-lined year. I haven’t been here on the blog much recently. In part, that’s because I’ve been busy between three different jobs as I wend my way back into the workforce. And in part, that’s because I started seeing a psychologist. It’s not that returning to the real world was a bad thing. It just required adjustment. I decided I need he...Hurrah for ...
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
Questions – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/questions
I compiled this list of questions for my surgeons before my all-in-one surgery in August 2011: mandibulectomy, fibulectomy and mandibular reconstruction. You can read my wonderful surgeon’s comprehensive answers in three parts:. Could I have another consultation before surgery? I’m scared and don’t feel like I have all the information I’ll need. When will you be able to to tell us how the surgery has gone? If you can’t see me, can you phone or meet with my husband? Will other doctors do follow up checks?
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
Timeline – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/timeline
9 May 2011: Tumour first diagnosed. 30 May 2011: First biopsy, Westmead Hospital (public). Surgeon was Dr S. Tumour diagnosed as ameloblastoma. 18 June 2011: Second biopsy, Macquarie University Hospital (private). Surgeon was Dr P, together with Dr W and Dr K. Ameloblastoma very likely not cancerous. 23 September 2011: Removal of arch bars, Macquarie University Hospital (private). Surgeons were Dr P and Dr W. 13 January 2012: Removal of titanium plate, Macquarie University Hospital (private). 24 May 2011...
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
Zebras not horses – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/zebras-not-horses
August 5, 2012. Among the things I’ve learnt on this crazy adventure is that I, and I alone, am truly responsible for my health and care. I can assemble a wonderful team, but I am responsible for following up, asking questions, and making choices. Much of my thinking on this crystallised when I read Jerome Groopman’s wonderfully thought-provoking How Doctors Think. Last year. It is no over-statement to say it changed the way I understood how doctors think. This is a bit of a long and rather icky story.
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
Surgery photos – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/surgery-photos
February 26, 2012. These photos are in your face. Well ok, they are in. And yet, I wasn’t shocked. It must be surgery-fatigue. I’m not even shocked anymore. But I didn’t want some poor soul happening upon this site by accident and being greeted by my dissected neck. With their morning coffee. It’s a bit much. To see my latest surgery in all its technicoloured glory, you have to click on these two links. Plate held against my dissected neck after the operation. Filed Under: Phase 5: More surgeries. 1 AUG ...
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
One week later – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/one-week-later
January 20, 2012. It’s been one week since the operation to remove the titanium plate from my jaw. This is how I looked on Sunday, the day I came home from hospital. The monochrome hides quite how awful I looked, but let me tell you the skin around the left eye was yellow and puffy. By Monday morning, my eye was swollen shut. It took several hours for the swelling to go down enough for me to see out of the eye. While the area around my left eye still swells overnight, it is markedly improved. I know ther...
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
Team – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/team
My medical team consists of…. My first oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Westmead Hospital. He did my first biopsy and referred me to Dr P. And, because he happened to have a surgery at Macquarie University Hospital on the same day as my main surgery and he’s that sort of guy, he assisted on my main surgery too. My plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Macquarie University Hospital. He’s tops too. They make me laugh. My anaesthetists on my second biopsy and main surgery. October 14, 2012 at 8:30 am.
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
The year mark – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/the-year-mark
August 1, 2012. 9 May was the one year anniversary of initial diagnosis. One year since THAT surgery. IPhone shots, early morning, 1 August 2012. No filter, just the glorious morning light in our apartment. Filed Under: Phase 6: Life goes on. Laquo; One year. August 1, 2012 at 9:23 am. I’ve thought about you a great deal lately and am happy to see how well you look and how you continue your journey with great courage. Kudos for you and your loving family. Carry on! August 1, 2012 at 12:47 pm. As we settl...
marsupialmum.wordpress.com
Another surgery. And why not? – Marsupial Mum
https://marsupialmum.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/another-surgery-and-why-not
Another surgery. And why not? February 13, 2012. Today is one month since my fifth surgery. Five surgeries in the nine months since I was diagnosed with a tumour on 9 May 2011. (The precise diagnosis of ameloblastoma did not occur until later.). Sometime in late March, I will have my sixth surgery. No more counting them on one hand. Indeed, I may have hit double figures for surgeries in the eight years that Darren and I have been together. What fun surgery awaits us now? It’s not pretty. After having par...