Filling up

This is me in the hospital.
One of the nice things about Swedish is they let the spouse stay in the room over night, if they want. Mark stayed with me the whole time on a roll-away bed. He helped monitor all the medicines they came in and gave me during the dark hours, he held my hand while they gave me hepperin shots in the abdomen at midnight every night, and his calm reassuring presence made everything way more bearable. I am not sure how much sleep he got and I feel bad about that, but I am sure grateful he was there!

I had the have my head elevated at 30 - 45 degrees as all times. I slept at this angle, as well as sat that way all day. Dr. Aye put up signs on my door and on my bed to make everyone aware. When some-ne asked if I wouldn't like to lie flatter and get some rest, Mark quickly stepped in the tell them the scoop.

The extra bed you see beside me in the room came every morning to take me down a few floors for x-rays. I did not know this before but, when you have something removed in your body (like half a lung) and it leaves an empty spot - a cavity, your body works to fill up that space. In cases like mine a viscous liquid, almost like a gel, forms and slowly fills the empty spot. They would x-ray every morning to check on the progress of the liquid and see how the fill was progressing.

I go see Dr. Lu on March 9th and go back to see Dr. Aye at Swedish March 29th. After that we will know definitively how things went and what what our next steps are.

We thank everyone who has come to visit and brought such good cheer! We continue to be thankful for all the food (and dessert :)), and all your prayers. Stay in touch, please. After this tough winter I hope spring will be easy and beautiful for all of you.

pneumonectomy

Hello, I am sorry it took me so long to update this blog. Here we go...

On Tuesday February 7 I had a pneumonectomy at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. Dr. Aye did the surgery, which started at 10:00 and was done at 5:00. A pneumonectomy is the removal of half the lung - in my case the entire left lung.

Often the surgeon will make a long incision that runs parallel to your spine in your back. Other times they will make a similiar incision in the front by spreading your ribs and perhaps cutting through the sternum. I was lucky; Dr. Aye approaches the lung through your side. I look like I had a shark bite on my left side but it has really healed nicely and quickly.

I spent a total of 8 days in the hospital. 3 days in ICU (plus one more about half way through). We are grateful to all the people at Swedish who took care of me, but I started whining about coming home Saturday. We had a couple of small set-backs, but I got to go to a hotel near the hospital on the 14th and come home on the 15th!

Like I said, the incisions have healed really well and after a couple of weeks the pain is really tolerable. I don't do well with narcotics; they depress me a little and give me nightmares. But, things are going so nicely that even though I could take up to 8 pills a day I am down to only 1 and a half!!

I do little breathing exercises several times a day and Mark and I walk for 10-20 minutes when we can. He had to go back to work this week so I will be inside walking on the treadmill now. Currently the walk winds me, but that won't be the case forever.

We want to thank everyone who has checked in by text, who has come to visit me, and who has brought food (what a blessing not to have to worry about what to eat everyday - and most of you are way better cooks that me!)  All the support has been good and powerful medicine.

Lung Re-section

I am a little wobbly this morning so I hope it all comes together and makes sense.

I had a chest X-Ray on Tuesday evening and then saw Dr. Lu on Wednesday morning. He says it appears that the tumor shrunk again with the third round of chemo I did in December. I had a CT scan Wednesday afternoon that should confirm that. That's good news.

Dr. Lu confirmed what Dr. Aye told us after the wedge; that spot on the right side did not look cancer-involved and Thursday afternoon one of Dr. Aye's PAs said the same thing. More great news!!

I am a little scared and wanted some time to settle into the idea of losing my left lung, but both Dr. Aye and Dr. Lu disagree. Dr. Lu said if I was his mom he would tell me to take the first possible date and get the cancer removed. Dr. Aye said "Let's get it out so you can go on with the rest of your life".

So, my lung resection will be at Swedish on February 7th.

Dr. Lu and Dr. Aye had a peer-to-peer conversation about the anatomy of the tumor. They are looking at where the blood vessels go to see if Dr. aye can do a lobectomy or if he has to take the entire left lung. He says its better that a 50% the whole left side will have to come out. I appreciate that that was a thoughtful decision.

As I know more, I will let you know. Thank you for hanging with me. Thank you for kind notes, funny and/or inspirational texts, and any small check-ins. Thanks to people like Amy and Dave who cleared massive amounts of snow from my driveway! Every contact bolsters my flagging courage and helps me believe I really can do this.

Thank you all!!

The Wedge

Mark and I traveled over to Seattle last week and I had the wedge surgery on Tuesday. It went well.

We checked into Swedish at 5:30 a.m. and they did the procedure about 7:30. The surgeons used small instruments that they controlled through a video monitor to cut out the wedge of lung and then retrieve it. It made the procedure much less invasive.
At the end they inserted a chest tube, The job of the tube is to help keep the lung inflated and  to drain anything like extra blood from the incisions. It stayed in until an hour before they discharged us on Wednesday.

 We spent one night in the hospital and Mark got to stay in the room with me. Everything went fine. I had very little pain at all and I am healing up really well.

We still do not know what the stuff is/was. But it is gone from my chest now.

Once again I want to thank those who continue to stay in touch with me; who send me tests, or e-mails, or comment on this blog. Some days that contact is what keeps me going. It certainly brightens any day that a friend gets in touch. I know you are all busy with your personal and professional lives, so your reaching out means the world to us! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

At the risk of sounding like Sheldon Cooper...

My brother has been impressed with how many of you continue to follow this blog and to make comments. I am most grateful. as I have told you before it bouys me up, helps me stay strong.
He said it reminded him of a quote from Lord of the Rings:
" You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin ...But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway there it is. ... We are horribly afraid but we are coming with you or following you like hounds."

No reason for you to be horribly afraid, of course, but the rest of the sentiment seemed appropriate. And I am so grateful.

Here is an update:
I have my wedge procedure on January 3rd. I am grateful for the change of date: gift-buying and giving is over,  baking and cooking and decorating are finished, holiday celebrations are done. By that time people will be ready to concentrate on work again and that is comforting to me.
This is what I know about the procedure; They will mark the spot where the infection is and my right lung/side of the chest. The Doctor will make 3 small incisions in the skin and then make a slice/wedge on the lung, gathering up the infected spot. They will put a chest tube in and keep my overnight in the hospital. If all goes well, they will release me to come home the next day.

So, that is the goal - for all to go well so I can come home, heal up, and get ready for the big surgery to remove the left side of my lung.

Thank you again for all you do; for the comments, the e-mails, the texts, the cards and most of all the prayers and good wishes. I am thankful for everything and for each and every one of you. I hope you have the Merriest of Christmasses!! Enjoy your friends and families to the maximum.... and then get some rest for yourselves.

News from Swedish visit

So, on the day of my latest /chemo infusion, December 1st, Dr. Aye's office called and asked if I could come a day early for another needle biopsy December 5th.
I had a minor meltdown but of course said "Yes".
Dr. Aye called me that evening to re=-assure me it was not more cancer. It was a tiny spot on my right lung that the Swedish radiologists thought might be growing. He said those guys "are among
 the best in the world" and they wanted to take a look at it.
It was an "Opportunistic infection"; when the immune system is depressed by the chemo other things can pop up. But they were not able to identify precisely what it is. So to get rid of it they are going to remove a small wedge of that lung, maybe December 27th.

The other news is that the cancerous tumor has shrunk about 50%!! He is hoping to see further shrinkage with this round of chemotherapy. They will let me heal from the wedge (which is just an overnight stay at Swedish) and probably remove that left lung in mid January. Dr. aye was really pleased with the way the tumor had responded to the chemo.

Please, if you are so inclined, do not stop the prayers and good wishes. I know they are part of this equation, too! I am beyond grateful for those of you who keep in touch and who comment on the blog or reach out in other ways. Thank you for helping me along this journey.

Great news today

I had my PET scan yesterday. It was a little like a CT scan and a little like an MRI. I was shot with a syringe of radioactive isotopes, "relaxed" for an hour as they made their way around my body, and then spent another 45 minutes in the machine being slowly scanned from eyes to thighs.

Today I had my appointment with Dr. Lu, my oncologist, to find out the results. I had wound myself up so tightly I forgot to take the notebook I have been using to capture what everyone tells me or asks me to do about this disease. So I can't tell you exact numbers but... In Dr. Lu's words, "The tumor shrank significantly and the brightness of the cancer (how it was lit up by the isotopes) was significantly diminished."

So, he had called Dr. Aye yesterday to share the news and Dr. Aye says I am a candidate for the surgery to remove the portion of my lung that contains the cancer! Dr. Lu told me to be sure and call Dr. Aye to set up a consultation for next week.

Because the surgery may not be until the end of the month, evidently Dr. Aye is going on vacation, Dr. Lu suggested we think about doing another round of chemo. There is always a chance the tumor could re-grow. For us there was nothing to think about; we would rather be safe than sorry. Dr. Lu tried to fit me in this afternoon, but the chemo infusion center was booked solid so instead I will have a new chemo therapy regimine tomorrow morning.

As we were driving home Dr. Aye's office called us. We will travel to Seattle to see him at Swedish hospital next Tuesday to talk about the specifics of the surgery.

I know many of you have been praying and sending good thoughts for me. I appreciate them all and I believe they helped make a difference. I hope you will continue. Because the chemo has worked so well and I am going to have the operation, Dr. Lu says there's a very good chance I can be cured of the lung cancer. I hope you will continue to help me achieve that result!