Learning to breathe, swallow & speak after surgery

Michael is the husband of Realtor Lawleh and father of toddler Oliver. Thank you for taking the time to read their story. I know the goal is high, but that's just the medical bills received so far. Times are HARD now, I know. The real estate market is unstable (I'm in it too) and business isn't what it was prior to 2020. Please help bless this beautiful family in the hardest time they will ever face.

Michael’s story

On March 30th, Michael went to see his doctor with the strange complaint of “hearing a whistling” in his neck "here and there". The severity of this odd occurrence depended on his position, but happened mostly when seated on the couch. The attending Nurse Practitioner quickly ordered scans to be done immediately, same day. She called Michael back with the news that very same afternoon. Michael and Lawleh were not prepared, but how could you be?

He had, what appeared to be, a Carotid Body Tumor within his neck. Time seemed to drag on and on as they waited for a referral. What were the options? Are there options? What would this mean for Michael? What would this mean for Lawleh and Oliver? What will their lives look like for the next year, 2 years, 5 years?

Sent to a Vascular Surgeon in May, they hoped for their questions to be answered. Upon looking at the scans more closely, this Surgeon said it was too high up for him to operate and was referring Michael to MUSC in Charleston.

In June, they met with the Vascular Surgeon in Charleston at MUSC. To get more professional opinions, this surgeon sent Michael's scans to an Otolaryngologist. Who said he wasn’t sure if this was a Carotid Body Tumor or another type of tumor on the Vagus Nerve. If you're interested in an in depth reading: https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/vagus-nerve. If not, "the Vagus Nerves are the main nerves of your Parasympathetic Nervous System, responsible for many automatic functions. Some include digestion, heart rate, respiratory rate, as well as vasomotor activity, and certain reflex actions such as coughing, sneezing, swallowing and vomiting." After seeing the Otolaryngologist in person a week later, they decided that the Vascular Surgeon, the Otolaryngologist and a surgeon that specializes in the Pharyngeal region would all be present for surgery. Michael's medical team was prepared for whatever type of tumor they found once in the Operating Room.

Finally, his surgery was scheduled for August 21st, 2023. They didn't know it yet, but nothing they had faced up to now would come close to what was on their horizon.

Michael went into surgery as planned, expecting that his recovery would be about 2-4 weeks and that he really wouldn’t have anything to recover from aside from the surgery wound, swelling, pain; normal healing from surgery. The risks had all been explained, many times. It was clear that there were unknowns, but Micheal's medical team had all the best training and were ready to complete this procedure.

Thankfully, after several hours, Michael made it through! But, surgery didn't go as planned.

When Michael came out of surgery he could not swallow, could not speak and felt like he was choking on his own saliva. Needless to say, he was completely panicked and terrified.

During the surgery, the medical team of specialized surgeons discovered that the 2cm Paraganglioma Tumor was not only ON his Right Vagus Nerve, but was a PART OF IT. They had to remove the tumor along with part of the Right Vagus Nerve. For review: the Vagus Nerves are the main nerves of your parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for many automatic functions. Some include digestion, heart rate, respiratory rate, as well as vasomotor activity, and certain reflex actions such as coughing, sneezing, swallowing and vomiting.

Michael is now 5 weeks post-op (surgery 8/21/23) and has made small improvements with the help of Speech and Swallow Therapy. It will be 6 months before they know what nerve damage is permanent and which "automatic bodily functions" he will be able to regain and to what extent those functions will be "automatic" again. His nerve damage has caused numbness in certain parts of his face, throat and tongue. His voice is hoarse and raspy. It’s a struggle to talk most of the time. He is unable to swallow automatically and has to chew food into a paste and actually tell his body to close his airway and open his esophagus so he can swallow liquids and foods. This is very hard work and causes extra exhaustion. Michael is getting most nutrients from Ensure and eating small amounts of foods throughout the day. He needs to eat somewhere quiet and without distraction so he can focus on swallowing without aspirating/choking. His sleep is disturbed and restless.

Michael was the stay-at-home parent of their 2 year old son, Oliver, and is now not able to perform any of those duties. Thankfully, Lawleh has been able to adjust her hours to stay at home, but the bills still have to be paid. On the days Lawleh has to work outside of the home pursuing leads or assisting a home buyer or seller, the extra expense of daycare has been added. Heartbreakingly, Lawleh lost her mother last year as well. Not only is this a huge lose emotionally but it is also a lose of support during times like she is facing now.

Between these added expenses, the continued cost of Speech/Swallow Therapy (which insurance only covers a few sessions of) and the $65,000 in medical bills already received, they still never asked for help. I begged Lawleh to allow me to do this! (I begged a lot) Anything helps, every dollar adds to the last one and makes more.