Geocaching Cures Cancer!

[+geocat_]

My wife was diagnosed this spring with oral cancer. To make a very long story short, she endured a 9 hour surgery to remove the tumor from her mouth. They had to take part of her tongue, 5 teeth, all the lymph nodes of her neck, and part of the floor of her mouth. They took a flap from her forearm to graft into this area to reconstruct her tongue and floor of her mouth. She had a trach to breathe and was on a ventilator for several weeks. She also had a feeding tube in her stomach because of all the trauma and swelling in her mouth that would not allow her to receive anything by mouth. She couldn't talk either.

 

She spent 2 months in the hospital, weaning from the vent, recovering from complications (pneumonia and pulmonary edema) and receiving physical, occupational, and speech therapy. At first she needed help from two therapists just to sit at the edge of the bed. I slept in a cot next to her every night for weeks.

 

Well, I am happy to report that she is doing much better. In fact, two months after she was discharged from the hospital, she decided to come with a group of us to do maintenance on one of my caches....out in the middle of the Great Miami River. Alcatraz! is an Otter Box chained to a huge slab of concrete in the river. It is normally a pretty tough one to get to but the water level is down and so I agreed that if she wore a life jacket and allowed me to tie her to myself that she would make the symbolic journey with our group. She made it that day and will make it to many more!

 

Ironically, another cacher who is undergoing a similar experience with cancer logged a find on the same cache today. He wrote up a beautiful log which I hope you take the time to read. I thought it was kind of cool that this cache has recently become a metaphor for surviving!

[DannyCaffeine]

I'm happy to hear that she is doing better

[+Love Cachers]

Glad to hear that she is doing better!

[+TeamSeekAndWeShallFind]

My wife was diagnosed this spring with oral cancer. To make a very long story short, she endured a 9 hour surgery to remove the tumor from her mouth. They had to take part of her tongue, 5 teeth, all the lymph nodes of her neck, and part of the floor of her mouth. They took a flap from her forearm to graft into this area to reconstruct her tongue and floor of her mouth. She had a trach to breathe and was on a ventilator for several weeks. She also had a feeding tube in her stomach because of all the trauma and swelling in her mouth that would not allow her to receive anything by mouth. She couldn't talk either.

 

She spent 2 months in the hospital, weaning from the vent, recovering from complications (pneumonia and pulmonary edema) and receiving physical, occupational, and speech therapy. At first she needed help from two therapists just to sit at the edge of the bed. I slept in a cot next to her every night for weeks.

 

Well, I am happy to report that she is doing much better. In fact, two months after she was discharged from the hospital, she decided to come with a group of us to do maintenance on one of my caches....out in the middle of the Great Miami River. Alcatraz! is an Otter Box chained to a huge slab of concrete in the river. It is normally a pretty tough one to get to but the water level is down and so I agreed that if she wore a life jacket and allowed me to tie her to myself that she would make the symbolic journey with our group. She made it that day and will make it to many more!

 

Ironically, another cacher who is undergoing a similar experience with cancer logged a find on the same cache today. He wrote up a beautiful log which I hope you take the time to read. I thought it was kind of cool that this cache has recently become a metaphor for surviving!

AWESOME story!!! GC hugs from us ( in Illinois ) to you ( in Ohio )!!!!

[+MartyBartfast]

Wish there was a "like" button for posts - good story.

 

Best wishes to both of you.

[+Beach_hut]

Fantastic story! All the best to you both, and to SM325 :D

[+captnemo]

Great to hear.

[+The VanDucks]

Congratulations to your wife, and to you, for getting through this ordeal. I'm so happy to hear that geocaching has brought your wife enjoyment and hope for the future. Having such a wonderful and supportive husband must surely have played a big role in her recovery, too! Wishing you both many, many more happy geocaching days and smilie faces.....

[+geocat_]

Thank you so much for your sincere and caring comments. We did a two mile (or so) hike to get 6 caches last Saturday. She is really enjoying getting out like this for the first time in years. Geocaching has so many inherent qualities which make it a life enhancer. She is also enjoying the new friends she made during many of the Flash Mob events our local cachers had during August.