I have a straight mouth now but I’m only halfway there. I have a temporary lower plate or bridge that feels like a fence and there are no top teeth Continue reading

25 November after 4 pm  and onwards Anesthetists were fab. First a young guy – registrar? He had one of those hats with his name on it – Logan. Got Continue reading

25 November til 4 pm.  Transition Lounge. ¾ full. 3 nurses down. Brown paper Xmas decorations of pohutukawa and tui.Says it all about the famous Transition Lounge which has a Continue reading

My third free flap My previous “free flaps” for HNC have been on my forearms but this time I had an antero-lateral thigh flap. That means the tissue was taken Continue reading

Head and neck cancer can be so horrible that it became my life’s work in 2014 to support fellow sufferers and their families and advocate for early detection and HPV Continue reading

Three months and I hope I’m still improving. The thigh wound still has three superficial unhealed spots which are quite maddening. They scab, the scab comes off when I apply Continue reading

I’m having a bit of a low patch right now. There’s a new Covid variant out there which worries me and I’m in that betwixt and between state in my Continue reading

When I first wrote this it was all negative and left me depressed let alone anyone who might read it. So I’ve added the bright moments too. The surgery I Continue reading

Tracheostomy (tray-key-OS-tuh-me) is a hole that surgeons make through the front of the neck and into the windpipe (trachea). A tracheostomy tube is placed into the hole to keep it Continue reading

I was overdue for a max fax procedure to remove broken, decaying teeth, install implants and check my inner cheek. Lockdown on 17 August had put paid to that. At Continue reading