In July, Kevin was treated for a salivary gland infection. A course of antibiotics diminished the swelling dramatically, and even tho there was residual swelling, it was no longer painful, and was expected to continue to diminish.
Two months later, a member of my book group privately shared part of her story about her cancer experience, beginning with her dentist, who was the first to discover a lump in the roof of her mouth. It was Kevin's dentist who was concerned about the residual swelling, which sent us back to our family doctor. She immediately went into action, referring us,and magically blowing open the doors to, a local ENT. Following came a CT which was not suspicious for malignancy. After another course of antibiotics, and residual swelling, he sent Kevin to his partner for an endoscopy. A fine needle biopsy revealed the presence of undifferentiated malignant cells. In December, Kevin underwent a partial parotidectomy. Frozen section was positive. We were referred immediately to the University oh Michigan to the Chair of otolaryngology, and national expert on parotid cancer surgery.
Our first visit entailed visits to 3 separate surgeons, and two MRI's. Dr. Carol Bradford for the Parotid, Dr. Jennifer Kim to reconstruct the facial nerve by taking nerve from Kevin's forearm, and Dr. El-Kashan on standby to remove tumor from the mandible, and possible removal of the ear canal. In short, this irritation of an infection had snowballed.
On our trip home, we ended up at Win Schulers resturant in Marshall, Michigan. Interestingly, when Kevin and I had our first date at age 19, it was at Win Schulers in Stepensville, Mi. In spite of years of neglect, and many iterations, This Win Schulers had been restored to former glory, and for a moment, we were 19 again with our lives ahead of us!
It was bittersweet, because while we did not know the scope and shape, we knew we were in for a different journey than we could have ever imagined.
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