Poor Little Uvula

Last night was rough. Bed ridden with nausea for 5 hours, I had to bail out of dinner plans with my parents and close friends Kasey and Shosh.  I  spent the night in my bed, nauseous and in agony. I was a terrible host!  I woke up this morning having difficulty breathing and talking. I clearly had an obstruction in the back of my throat that felt as if it was getting worse. When I looked in the mirror I noticed that my uvula ( the pretty little dangling piece that hangs in the back of your throat) was stretched out and hitting the back of my tongue. I knew in my heart of hearts that this was not a normal post- surgery symptom. I called my surgeon frantic and waited for 4 hours for him to respond. I called him three times starting at 7am, 9am and then again at 11am. When I had no luck getting through I touched based with my Fertility Navigator who serves as a liaison between the Onco-Fertiity Clinic and my Oncologist. She immediately paged my Oncologist who demanded that I head to the ER.  


An hour later I was flat on my back in a hospital gown with 4 doctors peering into my throat.  As I had thought, when the breathing tube was inserted they slit my Uvula causing swelling and what appeared to be an ulcer.  Because I am about to start Fertility treatments and Chemo the doctors were hesitant to prescribe anything that would potentially interfere with my treatment. The normal course of action is to perscribe steroids or a spray to help numb the area and reduced the swelling. Unfortunately in my case I would have to grin and bare it.


After learning that my nicked Uvula would heal after a number of days, the doctors ordered an ENT to conduct a procedure where they inserted a camera through my nose into the back of my throat. The ENT was able to conlcude that I did not have any significant damage to my vocal chords- which was a relief!


An hour later I was sent home to recuperate. Lets hope and pray that my poor little mangled Uvula is the only hiccup in my road to recovery and killing this Cancer in the Butt!