Basal Cell Lip Cancer

[niconitram]

Hello BIll,

I hope the surgery went well. Have a good recovery!

I am sure you will come out of this a stronger player and human being (I have to agree with Mr Hardisky...)

If can be so bold as to give you my little piece of advice:

Take you time, make music, and enjoy the ride!

I have had to re-do my embouchure (moved it 1 cm to the right:it works!) due to Focal Dystonia and I am slowly but surely coming back...stronger (i practice only3 hours a week as opposed to 4 a day)

My thoughts are with you man!

Nicolas Martin (keen amateur-ex pro-perhaps born again pro)
Montreal

[bearphonium]

Bill, hope things went well. Keep us posted.

[Bill Troiano]

Thanks for all of the well wishes, everybody! The Mohs surgery went well and the area of actual cancer was relatively small. Nevertheless, my lip is swollen, stitched and bandaged. I had some pain yesterday that I took Tylenol for. Today, I don't feel anything. The bandage comes off tomorrow and the stitches should naturally come out in around a week. 4-5 weeks away from the horn, but I can still hit the gym, so I'll do that beginning again in a few more days. I still have 2 other areas on the lip to be biopsied, but the surgeon doesn't think it's cancer. He'll biopsy it anyway. I should eventually be fine.

BTW - does anyone know of a stainless mp that would feel and sound most similar to a Laskey 30H, or the Olka/Dillon mp that I was currently using?

Thanks all!

[Rick F]

Hi Bill,

Glad to hear the surgery went well... and that it was small bit of cancer (didn't have to go too deep then). My wife had a squamous cell removed from her cheek and they had to go back 3 times to get it all. Took about 2.5 hours I think. It was a pretty large chunk the size of a quarter, but I can't even see a scar today.

I'm also glad to hear you opted for Mohs. My brother had lip surgery about 5 years ago for squamous cell removal. He opted for a "V-cut" where they get it all but lose more lip tissue. To this day you can see a groove in his lip. He jokes it's a notch to hold a straw... but who drinks beer through a straw? He's not a musician, so not a big deal for him. Mohs is the way to go in my opinion.

Rest easy and enjoy the break for brass playing for awhile.

[bisontuba]

Bill-
Great news-feel better!
Mark

[TubaRay]

Thanks for all of the well wishes, everybody! The Mohs surgery went well and the area of actual cancer was relatively small. Nevertheless, my lip is swollen, stitched and bandaged. I had some pain yesterday that I took Tylenol for. Today, I don't feel anything. The bandage comes off tomorrow and the stitches should naturally come out in around a week. 4-5 weeks away from the horn, but I can still hit the gym, so I'll do that beginning again in a few more days. I still have 2 other areas on the lip to be biopsied, but the surgeon doesn't think it's cancer. He'll biopsy it anyway. I should eventually be fine.

BTW - does anyone know of a stainless mp that would feel and sound most similar to a Laskey 30H, or the Olka/Dillon mp that I was currently using?

Thanks all!

It sounds like all is well. I'm really glad to hear it. My bet is that you'll be able to go back to playing tuba. Perhaps you'll even decide to take your tuba playing to Texas. If you do, we'll have to put you to work.

As for your mpc. question: I don't know a specific answer. I can tell you that I am very happy with the Sellmansberger Symphony mpc. I recently purchased. Between that and the rest of the Houser line, I would think you could come up with something you would find acceptable.

[Bill Troiano]

Thanks again everyone. I'm ready for Texas, Ray, but Debi isn't quite there yet. However, I know 1 word that could help sway her in that direction: work! If she knows I have work, she'll get ready fast! And it figures, that I saw Joe at the Army Band Conference and at TMEA and mouthpieces weren't on my mind!

[k001k47]

I'm glad to hear the surgery went well. I hope you have a speedy recovery, sir!

...I don't know if it mean's much coming from a complete stranger

[tubatooter1940]

Had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my chin. Left a slight scar. Doctor wanted me to undergo plastic surgery to hide the scar. Phooey! At my age a scar is no big deal. No problems beside that.
Good thing is basal cell carcinoma does not spread. If they get it all you're good to go.
toots

[bearphonium]

Great news, Bill. No suggestions on the mouthpiece. Happy Recovery!

[stufarris]

Glad things went well!

[jmerring]

Please gert it takencare of , quickly. When you hear that there are no more basal cells (of full cancer cells); do what I did after losing my hearing - play inspite of yourself. Make whatever temporay or permanent emboucher change(s) needed. Don't let the bastard beat you!

May God Lead you and Guide you...forever. *


*I mean no insult.

Jim

[Steve Marcus]

Bill,

Happy New Year.

Could you please give us an update on your recovery?

Thanks so much.

[Bill Troiano]

Wow! It's been a while since that surgery. It's been a while since I posted anything here, I think. I've been busy. Many of you know that we sold our house on Long Island and we are now living in Cedar Park, TX. It was a major undertaking and I had to leave behind a lot that I do and people I've known forever. I had good paying Christmas gigs right up until we left on Dec. 18 too, and now, I haven't touched the tuba, except for a Tubachristmas quartet concert in my new house on Christmas day. I hope to get that going here too. Moving here a few days before Christmas wasn't ideal, and we're still settling in, unpacking, and furniture shopping. Time marches on and so will we.

As far as Steve's question about my basal cell lip cancer recovery, it's been a while, but all is good. Except, for a small scar, there's no indication that anything was wrong and my playing didn't suffer at all. I had to lay off playing for 6 weeks. Then, I went back to it slowly. To me, playing long tones and lip slurs is useless if you don't have an embouchure, so I just played simple songs and eventually, 2 octave scales. I think I only played 20 min. the first day. At first, it was awful, but muscle memory started to kick in after about 10 min.

The second day, I played whole note scales and then I played half of the Bill Bell scale routine. I played about 30-40 min.

The third day was when everything went to Hell. I guess things started to tighten up and I sounded awful. I continued to play daily, but it took about 2 weeks before I felt my playing was back to normal. Roger's post regarding playing loose and consciously puffing the cheeks helped me immensely. He described an exercise done with the spit valve open - I'm sure it can be searched for here. I probably play a bit differently than I did before because of that instruction from Roger, but that has nothing to do directly with my lip cancer surgery or recovery.

So, basically there was no negative effect from the cancer or the surgery. The issue was the 6 week layoff and getting it all back.

[Alex C]

If the cancer has not spread to the muscle tissue surrounding the spot, the surgery should have only a minor effect on your playing.

If it has spread, the surgeon can make a huge difference. You are doing the right thing by talking to more than one doctor. Many Doctors just 'do their thing' without regard to your specific needs. Your doctor needs to actually listen to you when you talk to him.

I went to an orthopedic doctor for a torn medial meniscus in my right knee. He took x-rays of both knees and told me I needed to have my left knee replaced.
"But my left knee doesn't hurt."
"But it's going to."
"My right knee hurts now, can you fix that?"
"I can fix your left knee."
"But my right knee hurts now."
"Here are some pills." (Pills caused heart palpitations, low blood pressure and impotence. Skipped the pills.)

[Bill Troiano]

Terry,

Nothing other than what I posted above. It's basically ancient history for me now. I guess I'm now prone to getting more as I age. We'll see! Thanks for asking.

Bill

[bearphonium]

Thanks for the update! I am glad your recovery has gone well, and that you've completed your big move. Hope things work out well, and you're more regular here on TN.