Kind of gross, but here are my incisions. The long 7” cut with the 23 staples is where the surgeon gained access to my right lung. The lower two slits are where my chest tubes entered my chest cavity (yuck). The incisions don’t really hurt that much any longer, but I am still in pain in my ribs and sternum from the spreading of my ribs to give the docs access.
Sorry if too graphic or too much skin….
I just received a call from my Doctor/Surgeon’s office with the pathology report form the mass that was cut out of my lungs. The mass was sent to Pathology on the 10th. Though my doctor stated that he was sure that it was all good and had no signs of cancer, I have been anxiously waiting this report. The nurse let me know that the pathology report came back just as my doctor said it would; as sequestration and inflamed. The pathology report read pulmonary sequestration with aged inflammation. The nurse said that the sequestration has been inflamed for a long time.
She closed our call that this is great news, NO CANCER. Since, there is a lot of cancer in my family it has been needling in the back of my head ever since I was diagnosed. So, that is one more hurdle crossed in my road to recovery.
Thank God for another good report!
It has now been 10 days since I underwent my lung resection on March 10 at 9am and I still hurt.
First of all it was a success and the surgeon was able to remove the section of the lung that has the sequestration and not the entire lobe, which was great news. The odd thing was the sequestration was intralobal (inside the lung lobe) and extralobal (outside the lung lobe); they are usually found either as one or the other. The surgery went extremely well and he was able to get in an out in less than two hours and I had no complications. I woke a couple hours in ICU after the surgery in pain and unaware of the 7in cut on back, but aware of the pair of hoses coming out my side. When I was aware my doctor let me know all went well and he was pleased with the outcome and the mass had no appearance of cancer.
I was in ICU for a day or two. I did stay in ICU for a couple of days, mainly because they were no available rooms for me on a standard wing. I moved into my room and was told I would most likely be in the hospital until Saturday evening, but end up being released Friday afternoon. On Friday morning my doctor said I was healing really fast and doing extremely well and he did not see any reason why I should stay beyond the removal of my chest tubes. At that time he stated he wanted to remove them at that moment, so please roll-over on my side. Once I did he removed all the bandages that held all the tubes to my body. He then removed the stitches that kept the tubes inside my body. He then told me he wanted me to relax before he removed my so take some deep breathes. On my second breath he ripped the tubes out of my body, ouch! It was the grossest and most painful thing I had ever felt. It took all I had to not hit my doctor. He stated he was completely shocked that I did not say a word or call him a name, because he is usually called something colorful.
I was released a couple of hours after that to return home Friday afternoon. It has been a rollercoaster at home with my body attempting to heal and me struggling with being docile. Some days are okay, but some are full of pain and it is unbearable to be around me. I am just starting to feel well enough to write this and getting better daily, but still am restricted to low activity and sleep.
My next big appointment is next Tuesday with my Surgeon/Doctor. On that visit he will verify my progress and remove the 23 staples from the incision on my back. I will keep you updated on that visit, because I am sure it will not be much fun.