I think its time for an update!!

Hey Friends and Family!!! Its been a while since i last update so here it goes...
As you all know, Thomas had surgery on 01/22.. we got to the hospital at 6 am and they took him back about 7:30 am.. They had to put the trach in while he was still awake and then they knocked him out for surgey.. Dr. Bentz did the first part of the surgery, he is the one who removed the tumor and lymph node, they made an incision from the middle of his lip, down his neck and over to his ear, he removed all the tumor, the tissue and gums and the lymph node. His part of the surgery took about 2 hours. Then it was time for Dr. Buchmann, he was the reconstructive surgeon, his part of the surgery took almost 9 hours, he had alot of work to do. When they removed the bone and arterys from his leg they found out that he only had one artery instead of two, so they were a little concerened about that, they put they bone and the one artery into his mouth anyway. The dr was really worried about it for about 2 days, he would come in twice a day and check it and make sure it looked right, he was worried that it wasnt getting enough blood, so they were talking about putting leeches in his mouth, but he would have lost alot of blood and they said he would need about 10 blood transfusions, after worrying about it for 2 days the dr said that its finally starting to look right and he wasnt worried about it any more, phew!!! I was very nervous about it!! The hospital stay had its ups and downs, Thomas had a few rough days, and i had several emotional days, but after 7 days in the hospital he got released!!! He had to be sent home with his trach and his feeding tube, were hoping to get the trach out this thursday when he goes in for his follow up appointment, we also have a consultation schedueld for radiation, he will have to start that soon. We have had home nurses and home physical therapy come to our house and work with him. He is doing really good and the swelling is coming down alot!! He still cant talk too well and he cant swallow much foods, he has a little bit of apple sauce and thats about it, hes living off 9 cans a day of ensure drinks that go through his feeding tube. We want to thank all of our friends and family who have been their for us through this whole process and for those who came to visit us in the hospital! We also want to thank everyone who has donated to Thomas's recovery fund, we are still accepting donations and we are still needing items for the silent auction. We hope everyone is doing well and we love you all!!