Cancer: The Experience of Voice

Facing major road blocks

Cancer near my voice box

Get me to the best docs

Panic on a big scale

Surgeons need the detail

Send it overnight mail

Multi-city detour

Options there to try for

Found the best team on tour

Gurney to the O.R.

Road ahead looks so far

Surgeons are my North Star

Waking up the next day

Tubes are in my airway

Getting through it some way

Regimens to follow

Fighting hard to swallow

Feeling scared and hollow

Tripping on the pain med

Colors fill my whole head

Nights are long in this bed

Wakeful as a night owl

Nerves are on the late prowl

Can't say even one vowel

Scribble notes on loose leaf

Pile up a big sheaf

Writing brings me relief

Midway through the next week

Surgeons add a new tweak

Suddenly I do speak

With a tiny voice back

Physically I'm on track

Mentally a new tack

Listen on the inside

Cancer is a rough ride

Emphasize the upside

Healing starts to creep in

Confidence will deepen

Crooked roads can straighten