Friday, March 5, 2010

Surgery Anniversary

Sol

One year ago today, Sol had surgery to remove the gingival pappillary (verrucous) squamous cell carcinoma in her lower right jaw. The decision to have the surgery was one we agonized over. The main reason for our indecision was that we didn't know very much about Sol. We had only had her for a few months and the only thing we knew was that she was on the older side. Exactly how old, we weren't sure. Her previous medical history was a mystery. Our only real concern was would undergoing such a serious surgery be beneficial to Sol's quality of life. Would Sol be able to adjust to having up to half of her jaw removed?

In the end we went with our gut feeling and I am so happy we made the decision we did. The time it took for Sol to adjust to her new jaw was minimal and I never could have imagined that she would recover as quickly as she did.

Granted, there have been lots of other bumps this past year, but I can say that Sol's oral cancer has not been one of those things. She is a trooper and I am very happy to be able to celebrate this milestone with her.