Jill
Aspiring Cowgirl
Hi, Everyone --
Just wanted to post an update on how I'm doing.
I think I'm doing really as well or better than can be expected following such a major surgery (upper left lobe of lung removed, 17 staples, 2 days in the hospital).
Each morning, I can tell I breathe easier than the night before and after I can take my first pain killer dose of the day, I feel better than the day before (come on 6:15am...). But, when I first get up from bed for the day, I feel really sore all over and generally bad bad bad.
For the pain, mostly I've been taking 1 oxycodone, 1 regular Tylenol, and 2 Advil every 4 hours and this works really well during the day when I am marginally more mobile than at night. I am taking it easy and haven't gone outside since coming home. I walk a little each hour and do these breathing exercises. One measures how much air I can inhale and that has steadily improved. Yesterday, though, I was talking to my parents on the phone and walked to the kitchen (not a long walk at all) and was really out of breath which surprised and upset me.
This morning, I have an early appointment (9:45am) with the surgeon. He hopes to have preliminary biopsy results. He should also remove my (now real mangled) chest tube bandaging. Once that comes off, getting a shower will be a lot easier. For now, we're to keep it dry and it's hard (we're using plastic wrap and first aid tape). Maybe he'll even have some tips for the pain.
Last night was the FIRST night since before the surgery on Friday morning that I've slept more than an hour or so at one time. I slept about 3 hours, and then woke up (pain) and was able to sleep again for another 2 hours. That is a huge improvement but I still feel real bad this morning (hoping like yesterday, after I can take more meds, I'll feel better).
Also, I can read for a longer period of time now w/o feeling sick to my stomach, which is an improvement.
After I get home from the doctors, which may be late afternoon given he could be running late and traffic can be horrible in the area we are going, I will post an update to let you know what (if anything) I found out able the lesion. Obviously, we hope it was benign and that it was specifically a carconiod (sp?) which sounds bad but ranges from benign to malignant and is slow growing. PET / CT Fusion scan indicated this has not spread anywhere though so either way, it should all be gone from me with this surgery.
Jill
UPDATE 09/26/09 afternoon:
Things went really well at the surgeon's today. With the traffic, the last 10 miles took as long as the first 70 or so miles, but we got there early and he saw me early and I was in the car happy before the appt was even scheduled to start.
He, Dr. Kiernan, has the verbal prelim on the biopsy and it is good news (he told me it's pretty good news as we walked back in the hall). It is a carcinoid, which is what Dr. Foley (Pulmonologist) thought it was and what he said he thought and prayed it was. Apparently this is much, much better than a carcinoma (sp?) which can be large cell (bad but not the worst) or small cell (the worst). He called it grade 2 (which I do not think relates to the stages of cancer). I asked him what does grade two mean and he said it's a low grade which is good. They took the upper lobe of course, but then sectioned out the tumor including a good margin which looked excellent and indicates no spreading out into the lung (as the PET CT Fusion scan also indicated). He said it is a very good prognosis and that seeing the Pulmonologist in early October (already scheduled) is fine and good. I cannot take a bath for 2wks but he already took the staples and stitches out. I can take showers which will be a lot easier now that I don't have to keep the chest tube bandages dry (they are now removed).
By the time we got home, I was pretty miserable. Was a long time in the car and the car seat like pressing on the sore parts. Plus I have blisters where the tape was along with the incisions from surgery and chest tubes but I feel really good now being home several hours and more meds. Every day with this, I have felt much better than the day before (once I've been up an hour or two). This morning, I felt markedly better on my own after about an hour and a half before taking the additional pain killers so it is to do with sitting up, moving around, etc. that helps me feel better after the night.
We got a recliner just a bit ago (brother / sister in law had one they were going to pitch out b/c they got new furniture). I think that may really help me sleep at night and be nice during the day, too. I have a wedge kind of TV pillow I got before this but I can't really get it right enough at night (sometimes can for a short nap, but nights are harder on my lungs for whatever reason). So I think I may sleep real good tonight!!!
Also, given the size of this thing and how it was obstructing my wind pipe, I just feel convinced that it explains why I've felt so tired for so long. I just never knew it was "because" of anything specific and didn't know if I was getting lazier as I got older, or if it was emotional stress (I stress really easily), etc. I think this issue explains it and now that it is gone and the lower part of my lung on that side can function fully with healing, I think I will have a lot more energy than I can remember having in a long time.
I've been so lucky in this. Lucky it was caught, lucky to live where I can get to great doctors and facilities so quickly, lucky about the type of cancer it was, lucky it hadn't spread, lucky "everything" happened too fast for me to get as worked up as I would if the testing took even just a month to complete, ETC. It's been such a short time that I've even known something specific (lung lesion) was wrong and here I am, it's been fixed and all I need to do is recover from the surgery
In early October, I will have a follow up with the pulmonologist who may refer me to an oncologist. I want her to do that because I want to be sure we do every thing that should by any stretch of the imagination be done. I don't want to waste what I feel is a lot of God's good grace in how this has gone so far by not doing something that could be the icing on the cake to putting this out of my life forever.
Just wanted to post an update on how I'm doing.
I think I'm doing really as well or better than can be expected following such a major surgery (upper left lobe of lung removed, 17 staples, 2 days in the hospital).
Each morning, I can tell I breathe easier than the night before and after I can take my first pain killer dose of the day, I feel better than the day before (come on 6:15am...). But, when I first get up from bed for the day, I feel really sore all over and generally bad bad bad.
For the pain, mostly I've been taking 1 oxycodone, 1 regular Tylenol, and 2 Advil every 4 hours and this works really well during the day when I am marginally more mobile than at night. I am taking it easy and haven't gone outside since coming home. I walk a little each hour and do these breathing exercises. One measures how much air I can inhale and that has steadily improved. Yesterday, though, I was talking to my parents on the phone and walked to the kitchen (not a long walk at all) and was really out of breath which surprised and upset me.
This morning, I have an early appointment (9:45am) with the surgeon. He hopes to have preliminary biopsy results. He should also remove my (now real mangled) chest tube bandaging. Once that comes off, getting a shower will be a lot easier. For now, we're to keep it dry and it's hard (we're using plastic wrap and first aid tape). Maybe he'll even have some tips for the pain.
Last night was the FIRST night since before the surgery on Friday morning that I've slept more than an hour or so at one time. I slept about 3 hours, and then woke up (pain) and was able to sleep again for another 2 hours. That is a huge improvement but I still feel real bad this morning (hoping like yesterday, after I can take more meds, I'll feel better).
Also, I can read for a longer period of time now w/o feeling sick to my stomach, which is an improvement.
After I get home from the doctors, which may be late afternoon given he could be running late and traffic can be horrible in the area we are going, I will post an update to let you know what (if anything) I found out able the lesion. Obviously, we hope it was benign and that it was specifically a carconiod (sp?) which sounds bad but ranges from benign to malignant and is slow growing. PET / CT Fusion scan indicated this has not spread anywhere though so either way, it should all be gone from me with this surgery.
Jill
UPDATE 09/26/09 afternoon:
Things went really well at the surgeon's today. With the traffic, the last 10 miles took as long as the first 70 or so miles, but we got there early and he saw me early and I was in the car happy before the appt was even scheduled to start.
He, Dr. Kiernan, has the verbal prelim on the biopsy and it is good news (he told me it's pretty good news as we walked back in the hall). It is a carcinoid, which is what Dr. Foley (Pulmonologist) thought it was and what he said he thought and prayed it was. Apparently this is much, much better than a carcinoma (sp?) which can be large cell (bad but not the worst) or small cell (the worst). He called it grade 2 (which I do not think relates to the stages of cancer). I asked him what does grade two mean and he said it's a low grade which is good. They took the upper lobe of course, but then sectioned out the tumor including a good margin which looked excellent and indicates no spreading out into the lung (as the PET CT Fusion scan also indicated). He said it is a very good prognosis and that seeing the Pulmonologist in early October (already scheduled) is fine and good. I cannot take a bath for 2wks but he already took the staples and stitches out. I can take showers which will be a lot easier now that I don't have to keep the chest tube bandages dry (they are now removed).
By the time we got home, I was pretty miserable. Was a long time in the car and the car seat like pressing on the sore parts. Plus I have blisters where the tape was along with the incisions from surgery and chest tubes but I feel really good now being home several hours and more meds. Every day with this, I have felt much better than the day before (once I've been up an hour or two). This morning, I felt markedly better on my own after about an hour and a half before taking the additional pain killers so it is to do with sitting up, moving around, etc. that helps me feel better after the night.
We got a recliner just a bit ago (brother / sister in law had one they were going to pitch out b/c they got new furniture). I think that may really help me sleep at night and be nice during the day, too. I have a wedge kind of TV pillow I got before this but I can't really get it right enough at night (sometimes can for a short nap, but nights are harder on my lungs for whatever reason). So I think I may sleep real good tonight!!!
Also, given the size of this thing and how it was obstructing my wind pipe, I just feel convinced that it explains why I've felt so tired for so long. I just never knew it was "because" of anything specific and didn't know if I was getting lazier as I got older, or if it was emotional stress (I stress really easily), etc. I think this issue explains it and now that it is gone and the lower part of my lung on that side can function fully with healing, I think I will have a lot more energy than I can remember having in a long time.
I've been so lucky in this. Lucky it was caught, lucky to live where I can get to great doctors and facilities so quickly, lucky about the type of cancer it was, lucky it hadn't spread, lucky "everything" happened too fast for me to get as worked up as I would if the testing took even just a month to complete, ETC. It's been such a short time that I've even known something specific (lung lesion) was wrong and here I am, it's been fixed and all I need to do is recover from the surgery
In early October, I will have a follow up with the pulmonologist who may refer me to an oncologist. I want her to do that because I want to be sure we do every thing that should by any stretch of the imagination be done. I don't want to waste what I feel is a lot of God's good grace in how this has gone so far by not doing something that could be the icing on the cake to putting this out of my life forever.
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