A Personal ACC Experience

By Carole Matson

February 18, 2004

ACC completely changes ones life. Boy do we all know that! But the changes don’t always have to be for the worse. There are numerous changes for the good in my life since my ACC surgery.

I was a very successful sales person who LOVED her job! I had the almost perfect job.

After 30 years in sales, I was a National Accounts Manager, working with billion dollar companies. It was very demanding, meeting with corporate executives, strategy meetings and multimillion dollar transactions. I was (still am) single and enjoyed dating and being very active in my social life. Definitely an A personality! Activities included anything from riding horses, sailing, working out to traveling.

Around the first of 1998, during my work out sessions I started having a little wheezing. Didn’t think much of it. But the wheezing got worse. I started having a cough. Doc couldn’t find anything wrong. Over the next 1 ½ years the symptoms progressed to the point of not being able to do my job. Each time I went to the doc, “can’t find anything wrong”. My last visit to the ENT I told them I would not leave his office until he did more tests. A scope down my throat showed that my vocal cords were not working correctly. Whew at least I knew I wasn’t crazy, something WAS really wrong.

My nightmare started. An MRI showed a huge tumor 3cm x 7cm right on my trachea (wind pipe). I heard the worst words anyone can hear; “you have cancer”! From this point on my whole life would take a totally different direction. I had little control over the what was to come, except for trying to make the best out of a grim situation!! The decision of what to do was the hardest on of my life. Do I have neutron radiation which does “good” on ACC and save my voice or have surgery which would leave me with a hole in my neck to breathe and no voice box? For a person who used her voice as her profession, this is a devastating decision to make. The bottom line to me was, “what’s most important to me?” LIVING! So I opted for the treatment which offered me the best chance at living. Surgery followed by general radiation (I chose general radiation because it targets a larger area). I woke up from surgery in the ICU with what seemed to be 100’s of tubes coming out of me! The scene startled my family! The ICU was necessary because of the critical nature of removing my windpipe and my breathing through a hole in my neck. I could no longer speak and had a tube coming out of my throat (a trach) so I could breathe. The next six months were hell on earth.

Through all of this I never considered not going back to work! After the six months, I was using an electronic voice (hand held) which gained me the nick name at work “Robo Woman”. Working was difficult to say the least. A sales person with no natural voice! And I worked with billion dollar companies! In this sales category, you’re up against the very best. Well my first year back at work, I well exceeded my sales quota, made in the six figures. I DID IT! After a little time I was able to be fitted with a voice prothesis which allowed me to speak using “burps”. My voice sounds more natural, but nothing like a “real voicebox”.

But as time went on, the strain took its toll. After two years of work I had to say “uncle” and go on disability. This was a very hard decision as I loved my work.

I had to “adjust” all of my activities. So I refocused my “type A” personality to things I could do. Now I’m comfortable in my new life and all the changes that have taken place.

Looking back on everything….would I change having cancer? NO! I’m a much better person. I’m less self-centered. I really care about others now. I’ve had a lot of great times with my first and only grandchild. If I could still talk and didn’t have all of the other disabilities, I’d still be out there making money, not enjoying what God has given me!