My wife gets me in with a Dr Rathfoot of Saint Mary's, I will call out his name and affiliation. He is an ENT. Please remember these words, ENT. You have a sore throat that is persistent, go there. On the first visit he runs a scope down my nose into my throat, don't worry, he numbs it. He finds a Tumor at my Larynx.
Dr Rathfoot sets up an appointment to get a biopsy at day surgery's earliest opening at St Mary's Hospital , and takes more than he started out going after. Yes I had signed to agree to allow him to do whatever he deemed fit. He takes 2/3's of it out. This gives ample tissue for a diagnosis. I want to bring about something special that I have never had offered at a hospital, and as you will learn, I've unfortunately become familiar with most around here. A little lady entered my room while I awaited surgery, I'm assuming that she had read the portion that asked about religion and what faith if any that i was. I checked Baptist. She humbly asked to enter and asked if I had any opposition to her praying for me. I was delighted. Now I'm not sure, she looked kinda like a nun, but that was a Baptist sounding prayer, lol. That one small act of kindness made all the difference in the world to me. Take note here hospitals.
A week of two goes by and the Diagnosis comes back Squamous Cell Carcinoma in the pyriforn sinus area. This is not the kind you want of the four available. Know causes are smoking, drinking alcohol, and acid reflux. This man ( Dr Rathfoot) is one of the gentlest and kindest men I have even had the pleasure of meeting. He is very gentle with both my wife and I and very optimistic. Intelligent and kind, I would recommend him to anybody and the only reason his name is mentioned here is to say thanks and inform people there are great doctors out there, this is one of them. I also have to say that Saint Mary's Hospital is one of the top in care, kindness, and professionalism I have even been to... and I've seen a lot of them. A Big thank you to them as well.
On our follow-up visit about a week after the surgery, Dr Rathfoot in one of the most kindest ways revealed to Denise and I what the biopsy showed. He asked if I wanted to use the same doctors I have for my Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma, but they are mostly in Nashville. We asked him if there was anybody he could refer us to that he preferred? Zic and Greer are great doctors, and I thank God for them, but Nashville is too far to drive frequently and both of them are sub-specialists. If you have CTCL, I highly recommend them. Good doctors usually associate themselves with good doctors. He left the room, talking in a low tone going over names in heavy deliberation. Now if you do not think God works in mysterious ways, get this next part. On that very day a Doctor named Panella from UT was there being seen by Dr Rathfoot. We would learn this much later. The two talked and Panella agreed to see me in his earliest appointment, about 2 weeks. Little did we know that this was all about to turn at that time. Remember, this is looking back about a month now.
Come to find out, it was Dr Panella who fixed my cousin that was given 3 months to live, that has been 14 years ago now and she eventually went back to work! He was at at a different hospitable then. Dr Panella didn't not sugar coat anything and like Dr Rathfoot, took his time to explain everything and actually encouraged questions in depth. Now a lot I don't understand but he put it in as close to layman's terms as possible which sometimes shot straight over my head, but Denise was always with me. Did I mention my wife is a Cardiology Nurse? If not I should have and will probably will again. This man actually cares and is not only knowledgeable on all aspects, but kind and caring. He seems to doctor the whole person. While I've not asked him, I suspect he is a Christian. You just can't hide goodness, caring, and faith. All doctors should take note of these two mentioned. They are what makes good doctors great, and good work better.
Now this by no way stopped the choking at night, it still progressed, maybe even sped up a bit. I was still making my Peace with God each night and slowly had become use to the possibility I would not see tomorrow. Just for the fun of it and curiosity I started keeping the larger pieces of meat looking stuff. In another appointment I asked what this was and most was scabs. Sure enough, within 24 hours they were turned back to a brownish, blackish looking piece rather than the old hamburger tan or brow color. It was scabs being burnt off by the Dr Pepper, which was a good thing. As this thing scabbed over it once again impeded breathing, eating, and swallowing. It also limited just what I could eat.
The smoking seems to feed this thing. While I've never even seen pictures of it, it reminds me of the movie The Blob in it's growth and seems to crave and need cigarette smoke more than I do. What's wrong with that picture? Solution is simple, quit smoking. Implication of simple solution, not so easy. But I once again for what seems a million times try to quit. I've done it all, lolly pops, gum, pills, patches... you name it. Then On FrugalSquirrels.com one of the people mention they quit with an herb not even designed to quit smoking. As I read many other people then tried this stuff and quit. No side effects. The name is Sulfonil by Thorne Research. (I do not get money telling you this).
These became our silver lining in the blackest clouds.
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