Doctor sketches

Here are the before and after sketches that Dr. Park made of mom's lung and trachea after the surgery, to show Sarah. To just quickly summarize (hopefully correctly from my phone conversation with Sarah), they are "giving up" on the top right lobe, but they hope that the removal of the part of the tumor that was blocking airflow into the lower right lobe, plus the stent, will improve her breathing by a lot. Sarah reports that mom's "rattle" is gone today, so that's great news.

Thanks to all for your offers of help and loving wishes. I'm happy to report that we found a place to stay in Manhattan (thanks, Amanda!) for a couple of weeks, so we'll be heading out again the second week of March. Yay.

She came out of recovery succesfully

I realized that I didn't give the update on Mom coming out of recovery and actually getting out of the hospital today.  So they kept her a pretty long time - they weren't pleased with her oxygen levels in the early part of recovery so we had to wait until the stent worked its magic and her oxygen levels rose.  But we left around 7:30 and frankly I was glad they were so totally thorough, making sure she was really okay before we left.  We were both wiped out but I think all told it was a successful day. They were able to give her pain meds intravenously today so the neck pain was kept at bay a bit.  Her dear friend Katrin was here for almost a week, really taking care of her and a lot of details and we are so grateful for that.  It's great to have such good friends around, lovin on her (us).  She was more wiped out than in pain when I left her tonight, and there wasn't any blood or mucous coming up, so that's good stuff. One day at a time, yeah?

Out of surgery - tumor hacked away at - stent in place

So I'm at Sloan right now and Mom's still in recovery. I will see her in about 20-30 minutes and we will be home in 2-3 hours. After recovery they want to do an x-ray to make sure that everything's where it should be before they send her home.

I spoke to Dr. Park, the doctor who performed the bronchoscopy, and he said that Mom did very well in surgery and that they were able to remove part of the tumor blocking the upper lobe of her right lung (don't I sound so medically knowledgeable?). He also found some specks on her trachea that he said would probably have developed into cancer so he lasered those suckers and they are OUTTA THERE.

He decided to insert a stent just outside the upper right lobe in order to prevent the cancer from expanding into the lower right lung or elsewhere (something which would result once again in labored breathing). I asked him about the possibility of stent migration and he said the chances are very slim because the airways just below where the stent resides are smaller than the stent itself, and stents tend to migrate downstream, so we should be good.

He said she may cough up some mucous and blood today, but said that's totally normal. She should be fine for radiation tomorrow morning.

The neck pain has been pretty excruciating today and I'm a little worried because she hasn't eaten since midnight (surgeon's orders) and hasn't taken pain medication since about 11am, so basically she will come out of recovery hungry and in pain - not fun! But hopefully we can take care of both issues right away. The radiation hasn't exactly kicked in yet, but the nurses I've talked to say that it usually takes a few treatments, so I'm hopeful that she will be in way way less pain by the weekend.

roto rooter

Tomorrow will be the procedure on her trachea. There is a tumor there that is growing rapidly and making it very difficult for air to get into the left (I think) lobe of her lung, so they're going to cut part of it out tomorrow. The formal term for the procedure is "rigid bronchoscopy". Originally, they were planning to put a stint in, but apparently there is a danger of those migrating, and since it expands after insertion, a migrating, expanding stint in the throat seems, well, less than ideal. So, partial tumor removal only, and hopefully after that we'll see a big improvement in her ability to...breathe!

Second radiation went well today, but the pain is a lot worse.

First round of radiation done!

So Mom had her first radiation appointment this morning at 10am. She gets to bring in a CD of her choosing during each of these appointments, so that's kinda cool. She'll be there every Monday thru Friday this week and next, around that time, for a total of 10 radiation treatments. After that, we'll begin chemo. Also, this Wednesday she will have the stint inserted in her throat (or around there...), and later this afternoon she's meeting the surgeon, Dr. Park, who will perform that procedure. This Friday is a follow-up visit with Dr. Piatanza. Clancy comes Monday!

Radiation delayed until Monday

Okay so I'm working through my anger/frustration right now but, argh, because of some administrative glitch (they couldn't get in touch with the doctor to approve the films) they weren't able to do radiation today and have postponed until Monday at 10am.  Mom has reacted in a much more zen, calm manner than me, so I guess that's good.  More soon. 

Tattoos, needles, scalpels and radiation

Hi.

Mom's getting her first dose of radiation today, in about 20 minutes (at 3pm EST). At her planning appointment yesterday she got some small dots tattooed on her neck and shoulders, so that they can direct the radiation to the exact right spot and minimize damage to other tissue. For those who were horrified by this image, you'll be glad to hear that she doesn't have to wear a face mask--just a little chin strap.

Today's other big news is that they have decided to put a stint into her lung next Wednesday, to make her breathing easier. This is great news, as we were thinking that they would treat that with more radiation or just wait for the chemo to do its thing. Hooray for mechanical solutions. So the two things that are bothering her the most--her neck pain and her labored breathing--are being treated first.

She also has a new blood thinning medication (to treat the blood clot in her leg), that she must inject daily. Whee.

We are making plans to get out to New York again sometime soon. Anyone want to do a New York-San Francisco apartment trade?