Day 3 and 4

Substitute blog-writer, Marcy here, with news of Day 3 and Day 4.

The five of us, mom-Jackie, my sister Melissa and her two daughters, Elise and Julia and I are maintaining residence at The Rotary House Hotel near MD Anderson. We are Dale's fearless and able servants during Queen Phyllis' brief soirée on the high seas. I'm happy to report that she did NOT run out of the hospital with her hair on fire after her fun nights "on call" but that she is actually enjoying (we hope) a marvelous time on her long-awaited vacation cruise. Through the miracle of modern communication, she IS calling in often to check on Dad's progress.

Day three was challenging, FATIGUE being Dale's word of the day. The results of a Videostroboscopy of the Larynx, performed in Dale's hospital room, showed that his vocal chords were not closing as completely as they should under normal circumstances (the vocal chord nerve was stretched during surgery). The doctors were encouraged though, that the chords were functioning well enough that aspiration of food and/or drink into the lungs does not seem to be a concern. For now, there is a pronounced hoarseness in Dale's voice along with a marked decrease in volume. Those issues combined make communicating difficult for him but we are improvising with elementary sign language and one word requests! We expect that his voice will return to full strength as he heals.

Today (Sunday) Dale had a chest x-ray; his doctors were very pleased with the images they saw. The epidural has been problematic so that was removed this afternoon. Oral pain meds seem to be doing the job nicely. Recent problems with nausea and itching remain under control. Dale walked twice today, standing straighter and taller each time. He's eating small meals and continues with respiratory therapy and breathing exercises hour by hour. Obviously, there will be up and down days to come...coughing is painful, tubes are a nuisance, healing takes time, hospitals are noisy...and we remind ourselves we have many reasons to rejoice.

As Phyllis mentioned earlier, email messages--via the MD Anderson website--are delivered twice daily and really brighten Dale's day! The page takes a bit of searching, so if you'd like to send a cheery message, here's a handy link: https://www2.mdanderson.org/sapp/contact/message.cfm It appears that you only need to use dad's "legal name" Richard Stover, the birth date and patient ID are not required. We are especially grateful for this method of communication considering Dale's temporary vocal chord issues.

Have a very Happy New Year Y'all!

~Marcy