"Friends and Family"

Remember the old MCI "Friends and Family" campaign? It seems we have that going on here. When the engineers visited Indiana in 2009, we learned that Mark's aunt had a large goiter. She was hesitant to have it removed before, but maybe now she would consider it. In Feb 2010, Susan saw her in clinic. She had a huge goiter. It's been growing for 27 years! Tests indicated that she needed to be treated medically before she would be a candidate for surgery. She started treatment and when we came back in Nov, Susan saw her again and had the blood tests re-run and told her she could have it removed on this (Feb) trip. Her goiter was removed on Monday. She's very happy to have it gone! The photos are before and post-op of her.

I was approached yesterday by Maisz, another engineer friend. He has a sister-in-law with a large mass on the side of her face. She started with a tooth problem in 1982 and had two surgeries in the '80s. Over the past three years it has grown quickly. She has been hesitant to have surgery again. But Maisz thought he might be able to talk her into a visit since it has grown so large. Susan then talked with him and encouraged him to get her to come in based on his description.

She came this morning and her condition is quite impressive. Susan wrote for a CT scan and asked her to come to clinic later for a biopsy.

She came to clinic and was seen by Mike. He thinks and hopes she has a benign jaw tumor, an ameloblastoma. He took a biopsy for analysis. Regardless of whether it turns out to be malignant or benign, the required surgery is the same. Mike plans to remove the left side of her lower jaw and then use muscle tissue taken from her chest to fill in the defect. It will be a big surgery but not unusual for the kind of work Mike does back home. She is tentatively scheduled for Monday.

Also today, one of the OR employees approached Susan about his relative who has a large goiter. She's coming to clinic tomorrow. Come one, come all!