10:30 am Monday, June 29, 2009: I stopped in between appointments knowing that I only had a few minutes, but I am so used to what by now has become a weekday routine for me - a morning visit folowed by a late afternoon or evening visit to Tesfaye. I was really hoping to hear good things about his lungs, his voice, and the swallow test/eating situation. Nurse Kerry said the lung clearing was still pretty good, though he requires a therapeutic assist from time to time, and the secretions are still clear; the standard swallow test had not yet occurred. Before they were about to attend to the dressing on his back Tesfaye wanted me to take a picture of his back with his gown open, and I was very happy to do it. Though a long thin strip of dressing extended down his spine, the straightness of his spine certainly stood out in stark contrast to what I know he lived with for so many years before the miracle of his surgery. Another "thumbs up" from him when he saw those pictures. I had to leave but told him I would return later with Melaku. When I saw Kerry on my way out I commented that I was hoping for improvement in Tesfaye's speaking but it was still at whisper level, and she was of the same mind and intimated they were going to be assessing that.
When I got to my office and thought about it further I was concerned and curious enough about the voice that I decided to call Lise, but before I actually did have a chance to make the call I received a call from the hospital on my cell phone that I knew would be Lise. The main thing she wanted to tell me was that they were going to do some exploratory testing on Tesfaye's vocal cords and would hold off on the swallow test until then. Mid-afternoon Lise got back to me and said that the testing had shown some damage on one side of his vocal cords, likely from the breathing tube. This is quite common and when it happens it normally will repair itself over the period of a few weeks. She was happy to hear that I would be coming back to visit around 6 pm with Melaku, because she said she would step out of a meeting to come and explain to Tesfaye,with Melaku there to interpet, what is happenning with his voice and lungs.
6:00 pm June 29, 2009: Melaku and I arrived at six o'clock and they informed Lise, who then stepped out of her m
eeting to join us. In her calm manner Lise explained that, likely from reinsertion of the breathing tube, part of his vocal cords had suffered some trauma and were not able to function properly, and that this is not an uncommon occurrence and would probably get better with time. She told him not to be discouraged, and also advised him that because of the vocal cord situation as a precaution they would be scheduling a special swallow test that accurately traces the exact path of the food he is given to swallow, to ensure that the lungs are not put at risk of aspiration. Though certainly not feeling full of joy under the circumstances, Tesfaye,as always, appeared to take everything pretty much in stride. Kerry and Lise then jointly gave Tesfaye one more good coughing assist (the Vancouver Canuck monkey comes in handy for that) before Lise went back to her meeting. Melaku and I tried to leave Tesfaye on as positive a note as possible. I left hoping to hear that they may be able to schedule the swallow test for Tuesday, as I would be going out of town for a few days.
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