Now ft. 20% less lung!

I've become more sophisticated and made an email group that makes it easier to send updates to. 

And for posterity, I've also decided to keep these missives on the interweb. 

(A repository of information of this ilk:

http://buffalochris.com/cancer

Obviously I'm picky about who I send these things to and don't tell most people much of anything, but you're a special lot. And  if you do think of someone who would benefit from having this info, you can share it with them at your extreme discretion. Or tell me their email address and I'll consider adding them to the list. 

To assuage your fears, I've not included anything about death in the title. 

and the very nature of me sending this it should let you know in some way that I did not perish during or immediately after surgery, so that's a plus. 

Primarily I write to say thanks for the support and replies and prayers and thoughts and love. 

But while we're here, I may as well fill you in on the finer points of what happened and what's probably next and whatever. 

Quick backstory on the procedure and required tubing- 

Cancer floats around and takes up residence where it likes. In my case it moved to the lungs, primarily the right middle lobe and one small location on the left lung.  It's pretty common in Stage IV. 

I went in for a middle right lobectomy, which is where they take out a whole lobe of your right lung. Right lung has 3 lobes, left has 2 because the heart takes up some space and there's only room for two. 

The surgery is a robotic assisted one (Da Vinci Xi) as opposed to cutting a huge space between your ribs and doing an "open" surgery.  The robot makes 5 holes, the surgeon operates the controls of the robot. 

Before they do anything, they have to put a tube and a camera down your trachea. They use the camera to guide the tube to the correct lung and then the tube seals off the lung (in this case my right lung) so that it can be operated on. Left lung is left to do the breathing.

They do the surgery, super glue you shut, and kick you out to the hospital floor. 

The main complication is a collapsed lung/ pneumothorax since they made a bunch of holes in the chest wall and the lung itself may leak after the surgery. External air in the chest is a bad deal. 

To let the lung heal and prevent this lung collapse, they stuck a huge tube in you which prevents air from filling in the pleural space. This is called a chest tube. It's literally a huge tube that goes through your ribs and ensures your lungs live in a vacuum

The Surgery

April 2 2024, 0900 my parents and alleged sister and I went to the cardiothoracic surgery floor of the hospital. They waited around, though I told them it was unnecessary, and I sat in the pre op area, had some X-rays done preop, waited around, put on a hairnet, and waited for the surgery team to be ready. 

Not sure why I had to wear the hairnet. I asked if I could skip it...but they told me it was best to wear it. I don't think "they" really know why though. 

Anyway, the surgeon stopped in before the procedure and we talked about nothing. I didn't have any questions and I was fine just hanging out, even though they didn't give me sedatives or hard drugs at all. 

Rolled into the operating room about 2 or 3pm or so. I made sure to tell the anesthesiologists to be liberal with the illicit drugs since I don't get the opportunity to dabble in Propofol often. They obliged, I think. Because I was told to take a deep breath and then don't remember anything else. 

Propofol, Versed, and some good old fashioned fentanyl kept me out until recovery. I was curious how long things took so my first question in my semi-conscious narcotic haze was "what time is it?" 

730pm. 

They wheeled me to where I was staying. Family came in, they left and went home. I spammed the pain medication distribution system. 

It's set to only give you one dose every 10 min; in this case another opioid called Dilaudid or Hydromorphone. 

The following morning when they checked the machine they noted that I had dispensed medication some normal number of times, maybe 16 or so, but that I had pressed the button 360 times. 

I dont't recall it being particularly painful but on the spectrum of midevil torture - dayspa, it's somewhere in the middle. 

In the morning the Dr's staff came in and began slowly taking things down or removing misc. tubes and lines. Nerve blocks, arterial lines, IVs all got removed little by little. Early afternoon the staff came back in and pulled out the chest tube after being happy with what they saw in x-rays. 

I knew of the chest tube going into the surgery so I was generally prepared mentally. There's still something weird about people yanking what is essentially the size of a garden hose out of your ribs. It only feels weird for a second , they put a single stitch in to keep things sealed up, and then you're good. 

Being untethered, I felt compelled to walk around. Sit. Eat my hospital food. 

Did a final Xray in the afternoon and then was discharged about 2pm. Dad and Jennifer waited around for me to get the final paperwork and I eventually walked out of the hospital about 5pm. 

The hospital staff really hates it when you walk out. They want to call a whole "transportation" team and have you in a wheelchair, etc. I tried to reason with them at the desk, but they didn't see it my way and told me to wait for the wheelchair. I told them "I'm gonna go down the elevator now" and I went. They yelled at some staffer to follow me. He was cool. I think he was secretly happy that he got to go on a side quest.

I never took the pain meds they sent to the pharmacy, and breathing got easier each day to the point where now, 11 days later, I feel 100% normal aside from feeling like i got stabbed in the ribs 5 times 10 days ago and the wounds are healing. They're not so painful though. 

What's Next 

I have a follow up with the surgeon in a week or two or something. I assume we'll schedule the 2nd lung surgery at that point and go over the results from this surgery. Overall it seems to have gone fairly well. 

There are multiple possible paths but i think what probably happens is:

Schedule 2nd lung surgery, get it done ASAP (early May possibly), recover, and do clean up chemo for a bit. Have some scans. Do some tests, see what is left and where it is and how it can be treated. 

If not a quick surgery window, hop back on chemo to nuke the cancer cells that are left and then do surgery in the Summertime. Imaging. See what's left. Chemo. 

Something like that. 

Again, this is not a thing you "cure" but in some rarer instances it can be treated to the point where it goes away for a while.

In any event, it's an interesting road with lots of cool characters in it and people I never would have met otherwise and I actually quite enjoy it. I don't recommend you do the same thing I did, but it's far from bad, and I'm reminded repeatedly from the little signs in the world that I am the benefactor of the amazing advances of modern medicine as well as an untold series of miracles small and large; from seeing magic on the molecular scale to experiencing the grandiose sense of splendor in the ephemeral electrons that equate to the essence of cosmic existence itself, life is pretty cool. 

I need to finish the Bronco, though....

Onwards. 

-C