Surgery date is set

The good news is that we have scheduled surgery on my right lung for October 19, and I had a pulmonary function test and my pre-admission testing before we left the building yesterday, so that's out of the way. The bad news is more growth (and one supposedly new nodule), which eliminated the option to perform VATS. (VATS is video assisted thoracic surgery and is similar to laproscopic surgery in that the surgeon uses a small camera and surgical tools inserted through small incisions -- in this case, in the back.) The largest nodule is now 4.6 x 2.3 cm (1.8 x 0.9 inches) versus 3.1 x 2.1 cm (1.2 x 0.8 inches) only two months ago. Four other nodules in my right lung and one nodule in my left lung increased slightly in size. Now he will perform a thoracotomy, which involves an incision from my back to my front around my chest and separating my ribs. He hopes to remove the large nodule by doing a wedge resection, which would involve taking a piece of my lung with clean margins, but he thinks he will actually have to remove my entire upper right lobe (a lobectomy). The other nodules will be removed via wedge resections and he will feel around in the lung for any other nodules that the scans may have missed.

Sounds like a fun time, doesn't it??

While this was not the surgery I was hoping for, it's obviously the only option at this point. I had good reasons for waiting, and once we made the decision, we needed to live with it, so that's what we are doing. This type of surgery will allow him to get clean margins, which are necessary to prevent local spread of the disease. I think he will probably encourage me to have chemo to reduce the size of the nodules in the left lung before he considers doing surgery again, but he said he didn't want to discuss it until he sees how I tolerate this surgery.

He also fibbed. They cannot use my port for surgery. That means another IV line, which is not my favorite thing, plus I get an epidural in my spine. More fun.

Unfortunately, and this is partly my fault, my lung function is not great. As you all know, I don't exercise and therefore my lungs are very weak (aided and abetted by the nodules). I am now required to walk a mile (minimum) a day and use a spirometer 10 times in the morning, at midday and in the evening. (See a spirometer here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirometer) The first time I tried it (I'm inhaling on it), I couldn't move the blue disc on the left at all. How embarassing. This morning, after using it twice yesterday, I'm up to 1250. (Ed got it up to 3250.) I have a long way to go! I guess this just goes to prove that those of you who share my dislike for exercise should just suck it up and get moving. Otherwise, it could come back to haunt you.

The doctor is requiring me to have a stress test because he doesn't want "any surprises" involving my heart. I have one scheduled for October 5. At least I'll have more than 10 days of walking under my belt by then so I shouldn't be a total schlub. That will be the end of my testing before surgery. I will now be in the hospital for four days rather than two, but they will boot me out of bed Tuesday morning (Monday night will be spent in the recovery room). The nurse practioner who did the pre-admission testing told me that I will have to walk a mile at the hospital and use the spirometer starting Tuesday. They want to prevent pneumonia and other complications, so they are very aggressive on this front. Sounds like more fun.

So, now we begin the wait. I've been thinking about it a bit (and made the mistake of looking at a photo online of a thoractomy incision -- I recommend against it), but I'm sure not to go into a panic until the 18th. Until then, I need to cram 47 years of exercise into less than four weeks. Think I can do it? Not a chance, but I can do my best. Wish me luck.

I have a Zometa treatment tomorrow, but my chemo is done until sometime after surgery. I need to either talk to or see Dr. K to find out what my chemo options are now that we can see definitively that Gemzar is no longer working.

I hope all of you are enjoying a week with better news. Thanks for listening...

Scans went fine

No problems with my CT scans this morning, although my regular technician wasn't there. (And a strange thing: noticed a sign in the room referring to the "technologist." Never saw that term before.) Dr. Flores will have the results on Wednesday.

I spoke with my pulmonologist last night, whom Ed insisted I contact because I'm still coughing that wet, nasty cough. He would like me to try a broncodialator, such as Advair or Symbicort. I've seen those ads, as I'm sure you have, and they come with all sorts of side effects warnings. I'm going to mention it to Dr. Flores when I see him, but that may be something I want to avoid. We'll see what happens.

Bon voyage to Melinda, who is off to Spain today. Have a wonderful time and be safe!

Congratulations and best wishes to Laura, one of the oncology nurses who takes care of me with such gentleness and humor. She's always busting my chops, but she can take it as well as she gives it. She is getting married in a bit more than a week, and I want to wish her and Dale all the happiness in the world. She is truly one of the good people in this world, and she deserves a life full of as much love as possible. Have a great time in Las Vegas!!

Summer returns!

It's a beautiful day here in the Big Apple -- sunny, temperatures expected to reach the low 80s, blue skies. It's a shame I have to be looking at the day from inside the office, but it's a huge improvement over the deluge we dealt with on Friday going to and from chemo. The skies opened up as we left and we probably received at least an inch of rain that day. The winds were almost tropical force at times, which made for a tedious trip, but otherwise, my treatment went well. My hemoglobin dropped from 11.9 to 11.5, so I received another shot of Arenesp as a last booster prior to surgery. We'll see how well it worked when I go back for my Zometa treatment on the 25th.

I'm a little concerned that I am being passed off to a new doctor at the NJ oncology facility. As you may recall, I originally met with Dr. Greenberg, who is very quirky but whom I liked very much, but she is off on Friday when I usually have treatment. I was passed to Dr. Windsor, with whom I have developed a solid relationship over the past year. They recently hired a new doctor and I've seen her twice now. I was very disappointed on Friday because I had some issues I wanted to discuss with Dr. Windsor, but he was at the hospital doing rounds. I don't know how I'm going to resolve this issue, since I usually can't do treatment on Thursdays when Dr. Windsor is always on the schedule (unless I'm working from home). The new doctor may be very competent, but I feel as if I have a history with Dr. Windsor and I am loathe to "start over" with someone new. We'll see what happens.

I have scans on the 17th, which I will review with Dr. Flores when we meet with him on the 23rd. I'm putting together a list of questions for our meeting, and I'm starting to stress a bit about this upcoming surgery. I'm sure my mind will be eased once we meet, but I must admit that if there were any logical reason for avoiding this surgery, I would. However, there is no logical reason at this point, and I'm hopeful it will bring me relief from my cough.

Have a wonderful week!

Getting back into the routine

It's been tough hearing that alarm clock go off at 4:05 the last two mornings, but as I figured out, I don't have to listen to it too many more times. My boss leaves for Montana again on September 22, so with that and my recovery following surgery, I'll be home (except for occasional trips into the city) for a while.

Everyone seems to be getting back to the fall routine. The kids are back in school, the temperatures by us have turned cool, and it's time to close the pool. I can't believe we are in September already and summer is unofficially over. This year has flown by.

I have scheduled my pre-surgical CT scans for September 17 and I see the surgeon to choose the date on September 23. I have my final chemo treatment on Friday and then I'm off for a while. I'll have to ask him how long after surgery I'll be off treatment, and I'll have to discuss with Dr. K what treatment we're going to use since Gemzar seems to have stopped working for me. I know that patients are usually off chemo three weeks before and following surgery. I'll be off a few extra weeks due to the timing of my treatments. I'll still be having my Zometa treatments as far as I know.

Nothing else new to report. I'll be back following Friday's treatment.

Some photos of that sweet suite!

Here are some views of the lovely suite we stayed in at the Bellagio starting with the seating and bed area:

And then there was the huge bathroom...

...with this jacuzzi tub and an amazing view. I enjoyed a relaxing bath one afternoon while I watched the world go by!

Viva Las Vegas!

As some of you know, we spent a few days in Las Vegas as a break from tests and doctor appointments. I didn't want to add specific dates to the blog, especially after that guy out west Tweeted about his vacation and thieves subsequently broke into his home. Not that I think any of you would waste your time breaking into our house (after all, there isn't much to take and we do have an alarm system). but I thought it was better safe than sorry to announce the trip after its conclusion.

So, we had a wonderful time, despite the fact that I wasn't up for all of our usual activities. We visited a few other casinos on foot, and never used our car after the first day except to return to the airport! We had some delicious meals, drank some wine and mixed drinks, and saw Bette Midler -- at a discount! We relaxed by the pool every morning for several hours, and between us we only lost $110. Not bad for having visited the gambling mecca of the United States.

I surprised Ed with a stay in a suite and boy was it lovely. A huge room with a sofa and several chairs, a large screen television, king bed, two huge windows (not with a great view unfortunately), a bathroom (about the size of our kitchen at home) with a jaccuzi tub, a stall shower, double sinks and a make up table with the toilet in a separate area. Oh, and there was a small television in the bathroom as well, plus a large clothes closet. I'll include photos in the next post.

We tried two new restaurants during this trip: In 'N Out Burger and Mesa Grill. In 'N Out Burgers can only be found out west, and Ed wanted to try one. I would say it is a huge step up from a McDonalds or any other fast food burger, although it's not the type you would find in a regular restaurant. However, the burger was tasty and the condiments were very fresh. The fries were good, too. Mesa Grill served very eclectic Mexican-type food, full of various flavors in each dish. Ed had 16-spice chicken with a mango chutney, which was very flavorful, and I had a chile relleno stuffed with roasted eggplant and roasted red peppers. Yummy. Unfortunately, we usually had no room for desserts after our dinners, so there was a lot less sugar consumption than usual. But that's a good thing.

We arrived home at 12:15 a.m. Friday morning and were immediately asleep. I had chemo at 11:30, and it was tough dragging ourselves over there. I went back to bed as soon as I got home, slept for 3-1/2 hours, got up for 2 and went back to sleep for 12. I'm feeling much more rested today.

We have no plans for this holiday weekend other than to get caught up, get the laundry done, and maybe tackle some of the weeds that are threatening to take over the backyard. I hope you all have more exciting plans for this weekend and that the weather cooperates!