The Story Behind Round 1

So, I originally had typed up about a 3 to 4 page story line of events, from right before diagnosis, all the way to the day i started recovery. It was very long winded, and it contained a lot more of the personal stuff, and alot of play by play through it all. I figured i'd type up a more short form version so anyone who reads this isn't forced to  put an hr aside just to read it all. Should i get enough requests for it, I'll post the long version at a later time. I couldn't decide what people might want more, so I went with the short version up front :

In October of 2010, I was diagnosed with Oral Cancer (Squamous Cell Carcinoma)

On November 5th of 2010, I underwent surgery to remove the tumor.

Doctors removed about 30% of my tongue on the right side, taking the tumor with it.
Later tests revealed that there were more tumors in my tongue, neck, and lymph nodes.
On January 27th, 2011 I had another surgery. This time they took the entire right half of my tongue.
They took a large chunk of flesh from my left forearm to replace the tongue.
Then they took a large skin graft from my left thigh to repair the left forearm.
They cut me from behind the right ear all the way to the base of my chin, down to my right collar bone.
47 staples in my head.

I had to learn how to speak again, and how to eat again.

It was long, hard, and rough, but I got through it.
In march of 2011, they told me We had beat it. CT scans and bloodwork had all come back clean.

Now all that was left was figuring out how to start feeling normal again.

Who knows, maybe I'll make it to 30 after all.