Trials, Tragedies and Triumphs 
It started with a small reddish spot on the left lower side of my chin with slight pain. I thought it was a bruise, so I watched it for a week. I had been having two root canals done on the upper right portion of my mouth. So I mentioned it to the dentist. He immediately stopped working on my root canals and x-rayed my entire mouth. He said, he didn’t see any masses or tumors, but wanted me to get a clearance from my primary care doctor before doing any more work on my teeth. So I went to my PCP. He said it might be an infection, prescribed antibiotics and Motrin, return in 2 weeks. The reddish spot was increasing in size and pain.

 

In 2 weeks he refilled the antibiotics and Motrin, scheduled a CT scan of my face. He said, he didn’t think it was anything serious, but gave me referrals to an oral surgeon, ENT, and infectious disease specialist. The CT scan was negative. The oral surgeon x-rayed my entire mouth said there was no evidence of any mass or tumor. He said, he thought the problem was caused by a bad tooth on the lower right side of my mouth. He charged me $120.00 to pull my tooth. And I was $120. Lighter.

 

Next I went to the ENT doctor. He scheduled me for a biopsy. The biopsy was negative. Benign fibrosa tissue. No cancer. When I went for my follow-up visit, I asked him to leave the drain in an extra week, because it relieved some of the pressure on my face. After he removed the drains, he said he was sorry there was nothing else he could do. He didn’t know what was causing the problem. But everything was negative. After the drains were removed my face began to change shape and the pain was becoming unbearable.

I was then sent to the infectious disease specialist. He did lots of blood tests, cultures, more scans and MRI’s. All negative, he didn’t know what was causing the problem. He kept trying different antibiotics and said he would consult with a few other doctors to see if he could help me find what was causing the problem. My face was now extremely disfigured, and the pain was unbearable. I couldn’t eat, or sleep because of the pain. I was finally sent to a hematologist/oncologist for pain medicine.

 

Until this point I was still taking Motrin. He gave me morphine for pain and told me he usually didn’t treat patients until they had a definite diagnosis. The morphine didn’t help. I asked the infectious disease specialist to please help me, find someone who could help me, so he agreed to keep sending me to other doctors. After 5 and a half months of doctors saying I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s causing the problem and there is nothing I can do.

I was finally referred to Dr. Sinha at USC. I scheduled an appointment and they had me take the slides from the biopsy to the pathologist at USC. Before taking the slides back to Torrance Memorial I also sent the slides to my chief of staff at MLK and they sent them to their pathologist. I got a call from a PA I worked with and she told me I had cancer. I saw Dr Sinha the same week and after going over my slides and scans and within 5 minutes of seeing me he said you have cancer. He told me my best chance for survival was radial surgery, so I said ok.

 

I had surgery at USC where I had a maniblectomy with right leg flap reconstruction. They removed my entire lower jaw, bone, teeth, gums etc. and replaced it with bone, muscle and tissue from my right leg along with a metal plate. I also had a tracheotomy, and a gastric feeding tube. I was in a medically induced coma for awhile because of intense pain and swelling. Recovery was long and painful. I had to learn to swallow, walk and talk again.

 

I had been home only a few days when I got a call saying I had to have Chemotherapy. I had CHOP-Ritaxian, every 21 days. You do chemotherapy each day, hour and minute at a time just trying to get through each day. I took the steroids, anti-nausea medicine, and vitamins. I had constant nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chills and fever, and hot flashes all at the same time. I weighed 88 pounds on a good day.

 

I had six rounds of chemotherapy. Just before my last treatment, I got another call saying I would also have to have radiation therapy. They made a mask to fit over my face and neck, to keep me still and in the correct position. Radiation wasn’t too bad. I had mouth sores and chronic weakness. After the fifth chemotherapy treatment I went into remission.

 

I had chronic anemia for two and a half years. I am now gaining weight and doing better. I have chronic facial pain and spasms, right leg pain, numbness and weakness. My face is extremely disfigured. I had five teeth on the upper right side that have since been removed.

 

I have no teeth and the metal plate is coming through on the inside of my mouth. I am hoping to find someone who can do reconstruction on my mouth to make my face more normal. Also I hope one day to be able to eat normal food again. So far no one has been able to help. When I finally started getting better, my mom became ill and passed away after a few months.

 

 

I have my family, my faith in God, and that is what helps me to keep going.

 

I am a Head and Neck Cancer Survivor.

- Althea Tymony