Hi everyone, there really isn't much to update you on except that my surgery got moved from today to Monday. There were some emergency transplants that came in so everyone got bumped. It was a tough pill to swallow at first, but as they days have gone by, my mod has gotten better. To make matters worde, the location was moved as well. Instead of Thornton hospital, it got moved to Hillcrest which is bit further down the freeway. I am hoping it is as good as Thornton.
As far as the surgery goes, they will be cutting a 6 inch incision about 3 inched below my armpit. Then they will spread open my ribs and go in and cut out the infected part of the lung. The whole thing shouldn't take longer than 2 hours. All in all, I should be in the hospiatl for 5-7 days, with 4-6 weeks of recovery at home to follow. They are expecting me to be in a good amount of pain due to the whole rib spreading thing, but that's what good meds are for right. I really don't think anything could be worse than the crap I had to deal with the last time I was in the hospital. We shall see.
Outside of that, I've been feeling well and waiting impatiently for Monday. Evey and I go out just about every day for a good 3-5 mile walk with Floyd, which has been very good for my lung strength. I feel as though I'm going into surgery as strong as can be, so now it's up to the doctors. I just hope they go in there and cut out all of the infection. It is going to be a very difficult discussion for all parties involved if they tell me there is still some infection. OK, negative thoughts out... I just want to get past the surgery, recover as quickly as possible and move on to the bone marroe transplant. Then my friends, I start to get my life back and i am once again a happy boy. Take care everyone and enjoy the summer, especially since it just started a few days ago. I'll send out another update soon after the surgery.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
***Please Read***
Hi everyone, I bet you're wondering why there is a new message so soon after my last one. Well I won't keep you in suspence. I don't have much to update you on except that the communication vehicle for these messages will be changing. Unfortunately, there are some companies out there blocking this site from their employee's use. As a result, there are a bunch of people who want to follow along this story who now can't so I've decided to move it. It's unfortunate because this Blog site was working well until now...oh well, all good things must come to an end.
So out goes Blogspot, in comes Facebook. This is the first I have ever used Facebook so it may take me a while to get it figured out. I don't know if you have to be my "friend" or not to read my postings, but I'll try to make sure it's open to everyone. It seems Facebook is the site that just about everyone has access to and is most likely already a member of, so this should be pretty painless.
If I'm wrong and you feel this is still the best way to get these messages out, go ahead and let me know, I'll still be checking this site. But I also want to know the other side. If Facebook is the best way to go, then I want to know that too. Evey helped me set up my Facebook page the other night so it should be ready to go, but I still have to learn how to use it for what I want to do so give me some time. Hopefully this is good news for some of you and is better for the this group as a whole, we'll see.
No changes to the lung surgery schedule or anything else coming up. I'm just waiting patiently as always for that day to come. Thanks everyone, and I'm serious about letting me know your thoughts about this change. I can very easily not do it as well. Take care and have some fun. Maybe we'll run into each other at the US Open this weekend in HB...who knows?
So out goes Blogspot, in comes Facebook. This is the first I have ever used Facebook so it may take me a while to get it figured out. I don't know if you have to be my "friend" or not to read my postings, but I'll try to make sure it's open to everyone. It seems Facebook is the site that just about everyone has access to and is most likely already a member of, so this should be pretty painless.
If I'm wrong and you feel this is still the best way to get these messages out, go ahead and let me know, I'll still be checking this site. But I also want to know the other side. If Facebook is the best way to go, then I want to know that too. Evey helped me set up my Facebook page the other night so it should be ready to go, but I still have to learn how to use it for what I want to do so give me some time. Hopefully this is good news for some of you and is better for the this group as a whole, we'll see.
No changes to the lung surgery schedule or anything else coming up. I'm just waiting patiently as always for that day to come. Thanks everyone, and I'm serious about letting me know your thoughts about this change. I can very easily not do it as well. Take care and have some fun. Maybe we'll run into each other at the US Open this weekend in HB...who knows?
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Day + ^%$#
It's funny, when I first threw that title up there with the Day + $%^&#, I honestly figured it would be a few weeks, if not a couple, and we'd be in real day + territory in no time. Who would have thought that we'd be here 4 months later and I'm still no closer to remission benchmarks than I was when I left the hospital for the "quick" two week break back in May? I certainly didn't. I think you all fully understand my level of frustration when it comes to things not moving forward at the pace I would have wanted, so I'll leave it at that, but there is a ray of hope out on the horizon.
The results are back from the VQ scan, the VO2 Max, CT scans and all other pulmonary tests, and we finally have a clear way forward. I never thought I'd be excited about going under the knife, but if it means that we can finally close the door on the pneumonia I contracted 4 months ago during chemo, I'll do cartwheels. So back to results...after finally having all of the information my doctors needed to make the decision on how to move forward, we're here. The decision has been made to surgically remove the lower lobe of my right lung which contains all of the infection. Once that is out, my lung should be squeaky clean and we can FINALLY move forward with treating my leukemia.
All of the test results told the story that my lungs are in good health and that they should be able to handle the short and long term ramifications of surgery. It does mean I will lose some lung capacity for the rest of my life, but the remaining right lung and of course the left, should be able to somewhat compensate for what has been lost. The lung won't regenerate with actual lung function, but can expand to replace what has been taken out. Bottom line is I won't be running marathon's any time soon...or ever for that matter, but if I can live somewhat of a normal life that includes a hearty level of exercise, I think I'm ok with that. But even with all of that said, it's still hard not to think that all of this was so unnecessary and how unlucky I was that this crazy form of fungal pneumonia just decided to sneak in and cause all of this havoc. It's not like my plate wasn't already full of crap, but that's when you just shake your head and say the same thing you've told yourself a million times over the last few years. Everyone has their own version of crap. This is mine so I have to deal with it as best as I can.
So that's what I'm doing and that's how we'll get through this. The earliest they could get me in for surgery is two weeks from Thursday which would be August 19th...and trust me, I pushed to have it done ASAP, but this was it. Anyway, the 19th it is. I don't have many details on what the surgery entails and how it will be performed, but I do know that I will spend 5-6 days in the hospital and another 4-6 weeks of recovery after that. I would love it if they could start my leukemia treatments during recovery, but that will be up to the docs. We'll see what happens.
Outside of that I've been feeling really good lately. Evey and I have been taking Floyd out just about every day for some really cool hikes in our area which range anywhere from 3-6 miles at a time depending on how ambitious we are. Floyd loves it, we love it and it couldn't be better for my health. So that's it for now kids. Thanks again for your incredible support. Things seem to finally be getting on track which couldn't make me happier. More updates to follow...
The results are back from the VQ scan, the VO2 Max, CT scans and all other pulmonary tests, and we finally have a clear way forward. I never thought I'd be excited about going under the knife, but if it means that we can finally close the door on the pneumonia I contracted 4 months ago during chemo, I'll do cartwheels. So back to results...after finally having all of the information my doctors needed to make the decision on how to move forward, we're here. The decision has been made to surgically remove the lower lobe of my right lung which contains all of the infection. Once that is out, my lung should be squeaky clean and we can FINALLY move forward with treating my leukemia.
All of the test results told the story that my lungs are in good health and that they should be able to handle the short and long term ramifications of surgery. It does mean I will lose some lung capacity for the rest of my life, but the remaining right lung and of course the left, should be able to somewhat compensate for what has been lost. The lung won't regenerate with actual lung function, but can expand to replace what has been taken out. Bottom line is I won't be running marathon's any time soon...or ever for that matter, but if I can live somewhat of a normal life that includes a hearty level of exercise, I think I'm ok with that. But even with all of that said, it's still hard not to think that all of this was so unnecessary and how unlucky I was that this crazy form of fungal pneumonia just decided to sneak in and cause all of this havoc. It's not like my plate wasn't already full of crap, but that's when you just shake your head and say the same thing you've told yourself a million times over the last few years. Everyone has their own version of crap. This is mine so I have to deal with it as best as I can.
So that's what I'm doing and that's how we'll get through this. The earliest they could get me in for surgery is two weeks from Thursday which would be August 19th...and trust me, I pushed to have it done ASAP, but this was it. Anyway, the 19th it is. I don't have many details on what the surgery entails and how it will be performed, but I do know that I will spend 5-6 days in the hospital and another 4-6 weeks of recovery after that. I would love it if they could start my leukemia treatments during recovery, but that will be up to the docs. We'll see what happens.
Outside of that I've been feeling really good lately. Evey and I have been taking Floyd out just about every day for some really cool hikes in our area which range anywhere from 3-6 miles at a time depending on how ambitious we are. Floyd loves it, we love it and it couldn't be better for my health. So that's it for now kids. Thanks again for your incredible support. Things seem to finally be getting on track which couldn't make me happier. More updates to follow...
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