Posted on 02/15/2012 7:03:47 PM PST by ColdOne
SAN DIEGO -- Tony Gwynn is already talking after five doctors spent 14 hours removing a malignant tumor from inside the Hall of Famer's right cheek on Tuesday.
According to Gwynn's wife, Alicia, the doctors performed a complex nerve-graft procedure, removing Gwynn's facial nerve and replacing it with a nerve from Gwynn's shoulder.
Alicia Gwynn said her husband came out of surgery at 1 a.m. PT Wednesday, and that doctors told her they had entirely removed the cancerous growth from his parotid gland.
At 8:30 a.m., Tony Gwynn was already talking, drinking water and laughing. That was not the case 18 months ago, when he underwent a previous cancer surgery in the same spot and could not smile for months.
"I'm already ahead of schedule," Gwynn said Wednesday afternoon from Thornton Hospital at the University of California-San Diego, just 12 hours after surgery. "Last time, I couldn't lift my eye or close my mouth. This time, my eye can close, my mouth can close. I feel good. I'm talking better than I did last time."
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Praise God.
Good luck Tony! Get well soon.
Amen to that! So glad to hear!
Nice guy, Tony. We got to be extras in a Tony Gwynn commercial once, in the background crowd at the stadium. They moved us for each scene to look like it was full!
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