When Alicia Salibellas began noticing she was having trouble swallowing, she couldn鈥檛 have predicted how the diagnosis she received would change her life and nearly rob her of her voice.
She visited her primary care physician at a Chicago-based clinic, who discovered a mass in her throat. The doctor referred her to an otorhinolaryngologist, commonly known as an ear, nose and throat doctor. A biopsy revealed Alicia鈥檚 worst fear: The mass was cancerous.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even give them a chance to tell me it was untreatable,鈥 Alicia says. 鈥淚 wanted a second opinion. I started looking up the top surgeons in the country and found , at Rush, which was great because I had been a patient there before and had been happy with my care.鈥
While the doctors who initially diagnosed Alicia feared that removing the growth in her throat would affect her ability to speak or swallow, she was determined to find a course of treatment that would not only save her life, but also her voice and independence.
鈥淚t was terrifying,鈥 Alicia says. 鈥淚鈥檓 only 48 and I have family. I have people I love and who love me, and it was difficult to even wrap my head around. I thought 鈥業鈥檓 not going to be able to learn sign language, and my family is going to have to learn how to read lips!鈥 But I didn鈥檛 let myself embrace that fear too much.鈥
Developing a treatment plan
One surgical option was to remove Alicia鈥檚 esophagus and larynx along with the tumor, though that would mean Alicia would no longer be able to speak or swallow.
鈥淎licia was a young, vibrant woman who showed up in my office with a really bad tumor,鈥 says , a thoracic surgeon with the Rush Lung Center鈥檚 Upper Airway Program. 鈥淚t was growing out of her esophagus, into the back side of her trachea and was a life-threatening growth if it wasn鈥檛 addressed soon. It was extremely important for Alicia to maintain her ability to speak, so we always kept that goal at the forefront of our treatment plans.鈥
Seder knew his work was cut out for him, so he and Stenson assembled a team of specialists in ENT, as well as thoracic surgery, knowing that it would require the expertise of both fields to pull the operation off.
But the surgery was not an easy one. After a portion of her esophagus was removed, the surgical team used her stomach to construct a long tube that connected to the remaining part of her throat. Once this healed, she would be able to swallow and eat normally.
Then, the entire back side of Alicia鈥檚 trachea needed to be removed. The team used an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation 鈥 or ECMO 鈥 machine, which oxygenates a person鈥檚 blood and pumps it through their body, bypassing the heart and lungs.
鈥淭he ECMO machine allowed us to ventilate Alicia while we were working on her trachea,鈥 Seder says. 鈥淲e removed the whole back side of her trachea and reconstructed it with a piece of skin from her shoulder.
鈥淪he had a great response and can still speak, thanks to the collaboration between the ENT and thoracic teams and our ability to perform and accomplish complex operations.鈥
Claiming her independence
While Alicia鈥檚 surgery was a success and her ability to speak and swallow would return, there was still a long road to regain her independence.
鈥淢y recovery was difficult,鈥 Alicia says. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 hard or painful, but it was a lot to do. When I got home, I used a feeding tube for both food and medicine. Not being able to eat or drink anything properly for weeks was crazy and strange, but I did it.鈥
After healing from the surgery, Alicia began daily radiation treatments. Eventually, her scans showed that the tumor had been completely removed.
For Alicia, the moment she felt like herself again was when she had her first solid meal after weeks of feeding tubes and liquid diets.
鈥淚 had a turkey burger with fries,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t was magnificent.鈥
While Alicia is still on the path toward feeling 100%, she is grateful for her entire care team at Rush.
鈥淭hey are the best ever in this country and top notch,鈥 she says. 鈥淭heir bedside manner from beginning to end 鈥 explaining to me what was going on, all of the difficult conversations we had to have, reassuring me that I鈥檇 get through it 鈥 was amazing. In addition to the medical side, I could really tell that they cared about what I was going through and how I was going to be treated.
鈥淚t was going to work, and they were going to give me the very best outcome.鈥
