The Scare

It started with a soreness in the center part of my neck (Trachea). It was subtle for the first day, not even enough to mention to Anna. By the second day (Sunday the 30th of March) it had moved down a bit further in my throat and covered a larger area. It hurt quite a bit when I swallowed and even more when I touched it. The crazy thing about the pain was that it was not in the normal area of a sore throat which tends to be on the sides and higher up near the jaw bone. This pain felt like a deep bruise and was right in the center of my throat near the Adams Apple. When I lifted my head it really hurt. My neck was a bit swollen and my voice was weaker. I was beginning to get concerned…

To understand my concern, you would need to know one additional fact. I have been chewing tobacco off and on for twenty years. Of course admitting this to all of you is not exactly something that I am proud of. I know that it’s a nasty habit. It started in my early twenties and after brief stints of not chewing, I have settled into a fairly steady routine over the past ten years which consists of every time I pick up a golf club and has evolved into an after meal relaxant. I have always falsely justified my intake with the excuse that I chew far less than most guys that I know that have the same habit (Only chewing about one can every three weeks)

The origins of my habit are a bit more innocent. I have had a chronic stomach condition for nearly twenty five years now that comes and goes about six to eight times a year. I have been to dozens of doctors and no one can figure it out. The one thing that we know is that chewing tobacco helps a lot when I have an attack. The problem is that its evolved into a habit beyond that of stomach remedy.

Our local doctor (Doctor Porro) made a house call to the castle on Sunday night. After feeling around the neck area, he made a call to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor who was willing to see me the next evening. It was a long 24 hours…

Many thoughts went through my head as you can likely imagine, with feelings of selfishness being at the top of the list. “If it’s a tumor would I have it removed here and endure radiation while in Italy, or would it be better to go home immediately to treat the problem?” “What about the kids school?” “Poor Anna, is having such an amazing time and my bad habit is going to cut this wonderful year short.” How am I going to tell the kids, especially when Olivia looks at me every time I put a chew in and wonders why I need to use it.”

Needless to say I didn’t sleep much that night. The next evening, Anna and I walked to the city center along the Arno River to the doctor’s office. It was a magically beautiful evening, with kayakers rowing down the river as the sun set over this fairy tail of a city. Was this one of the last times that I was going to see this place I thought?

After a one hour wait in the doctor’s office, we were invited in at 8:00 in the evening (Even doctors appointments are late here!) I didn’t think that there was any chance that I would get an answer at this time of the night, but sure enough as soon as I walked in, the doctor informed me that he wanted to stick a camera up my nose and down my throat to check things out! This is not exactly a pleasant experience for a guy with a deviated septum (Small opening in the nasal cavity).

I chose to not watch the monitor as he examined the insides of my nose and throat, but Anna watched every minute.

“Completely clear” said the doctor. “No tumors, nothing. I can assure you that you have nothing serious in my area of examination.”

The one catch, and it appears to be a small one, is that an ENT Doctor only examines to the point of the top of the trachea. Trachea cancer is virtually no existent, so doing an invasive procedure to see if anything is down that far is not something that he recommends. There is a chance that I could have a problem in the esophagus, and that would require yet another examination that would also be much more invasive. For now his suggestion was to do nothing and see what happens with the pain, as cancer of the esophagus is a condition that typically generates a myriad of other symptoms, non of which I have at this time.

When I got home, I called Doctor Porro to ask him what he wanted me to do. His feeling was that it was highly likely to be nothing serious and that he would like me to take Ibuprofen for three or four days to see what the result was with the pain and the swelling in my neck. If the pain and swelling goes away, then we know that its not anything serious since a tumor would not react to this treatment. I’m relieved to say that within two days, I was 90 percent better! What was the cause? Not sure really…could be a virus, something stuck in my neck, don’t really know at this point.

What I do know is this. I don’t need two wake up calls. Skoal has lost a long time customer…