If you followed our travels to Europe last winter, then you are familiar with our week of hell in Valencia, Spain.  It was during that trip that we had several unplanned visits to Spanish hospitals and doctors.  George, who had some nose bleed problems in the past, had some really difficult and heavy nosebleeds that were not able to be stopped by us at home.  It was a very stressful week, and almost caused us to end our trip early, but we survived. 

Immediately upon our return to the United States, I scheduled an appointment for George to see an ENT in Orlando.  At the visit, he said the nostril that George had been bleeding from looked fine…but the other nostril (that he had regular nose bleeds in prior to our travel) seemed to have some chronic infection.  This did not come as a surprise to us. He was given some medicine and we went on our way!

While George did not have any crazy nosebleeds like he had in Spain, throughout the summer he would get an occasional nose bleed while bending over to work on bikes at our shop: Klondike Electric Bicycles.  Fast forward to this October!

We had planned a family cruise to Hawaii after our Alaska cruise season.  I was planning on having carpal tunnel surgery after our trip but needed to have some testing done in Juneau before our trip.  Since we were going to be there for a few days, I scheduled an appointment for George to see the ENT there. 

This scenario sums up life in a small Alaska town. We have a clinic in our town where we get most of our medical care from a Nurse Practitioner. However, if you need to have surgery or see a specialist, you have to travel to Juneau, Seattle, or Anchorage (most likely choices). For us, we try to piggyback any of that medical with our normally scheduled vacations because it cuts down on the added cost of medical appointments. Traveling from Skagway can be expensive!

What happened at George’s appointment was unexpected and created a whirlwind of events. The doctor was very concerned about what he found upon examination.  George had two growths very high inside his left nostril.  The doctor used scary words and wanted to do more testing.  They sent George for a CT Scan before we left for our trip.  Then scheduled a biopsy for when we got back.  We got the initial CT results while we were on vacation.  They seemed pretty normal…and we tried not to think about the rest.  We were intent on enjoying our cruise (until the theft drama on board)!

Upon returning to Juneau after our cruise, I had my surgery on my hand. The following day, George’s biopsy was scheduled. The doctor decided to do the procedure at the hospital because of the location of the growths (and possibility of bleeding that could occur).  The initial thought after the procedure was that it was an inverted papilloma (not cancerous).  Whew, what a relief!  The doctor said he would call us a few days later once the histology came back. 

On the morning of my birthday, we received the call that would bring about this unexpected trip!  George has squamous carcinoma…otherwise known as cancer in the nose/sinus area.  During that call, the ENT told us that we will be contacted by a surgeon in Seattle.  The next day, George was contacted by the office in Seattle. The next thing we knew he had 7 appointments scheduled in Seattle. 

The first couple appointments were telehealth, including a meeting with the surgeon. The surgeon explained the procedure…including best and worst case scenarios (more scary words like brain flap were used in the worst case scenario).  Due to the appointment before surgery, the follow up appointment a week later, and the adventure of travel from Skagway in the winter, we will now be taking an unexpected 12 day “vacation” to Seattle. 

After the surgery, we will know more about what comes next.  At this point, there is talk of 6 weeks of radiation therapy.  Since this is not available in Skagway, we would have to stay in Juneau for 6 weeks.  While we had already planned to travel during January and February, this has put a wrench in our itinerary (especially since this will affect our preparations for the next season)!

While we are so thankful that things are moving quickly, it has been stressful to plan this trip…especially since I am still down the use of one of my hands. Due to all of the upcoming craziness, we are going to take a break from our podcast. We have more than enough on our plates right now. We are looking forward to getting this all done, so we can enjoy the Christmas season with the kids and dogs…and then figure out what is next!