Jane and I went to see the surgeon yesterday. That was new. We were brought into a room with a nice wooden table and four chairs. The walls were covered with his diplomas and awards. This guy has done this before. He came in and was very business like. All good.
Jane took notes while he explained the situation. First he asked me all the questions that you always get asked. Date of birth (I've already have had to say this about 100 times), medical history, allergies, heart problems, diabetes, infections, surgeries, smoking, etc. etc. All my answers were "no" except that I have a heart murmur and have had my tonsils out and eye surgery to fix a detached retina. Oh and I do take some meds to keep me awake and to help with depression (read about dysthymia if you're curious).
Here's the deal. It is probably stage two (no more). The organ of origin is the lung. These are good signs. He did tell me the type of cancer it is, but I can't spell it and don't have the notes with me. I'll go out on a limb and say it is Adenocarcinoma. They will know even more after they do the pathology on what they remove.
Here's what they are going to remove. The upper right lobe of my lung. It is an upper right lobectomy. But I may just call it a lobotomy for shits and giggles (I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy). Oh they will also take tissue from my lymph nodes to test to see if it's spread. This will help determine the after treatment. I may have radiation, chemotherapy, or nothing.
They will go into my side and make a "C" shape incision. They will create a "floating rib" meaning that they detach a rib from my spine so it can be moved around. This will give them access to my lung. They'll cut it out, sew me up, and wheel me to the ICU.
I should be in the hospital for about 5 days. Then I'll be home for a few weeks.
This is about all I know for the moment. I'm glad I'll be in Santa Cruz at Dominican for the procedure. I used to visit the emergency room there quite a bit as a kid. Like going home. It's also good to have a little time to prepare. Although I want this done now, having a week is cool because I can take care of some things at work and do some fun things with the kids before the deal.
