update

All, I wanted to get out an update on current status. Monday and Tuesday were tough as I tried to recover from the surgery on Monday. A lot of pain and discomfort, and a lot of tubes and wires to deal with. I am not getting a lot of sleep. Wednesday and Thursday were better as my body started to recover and we got the pain under control. Thursday an x-ray showed that the surgery had some good success and space they wanted closed off had closed up and the doctors decided that the leaking from the lung had stopped so they removed two of the four tubes from my chest. This relieved some pressure and some pain. They were also able to remove the epidural, the folio, and one of the IV lines. So the number of wires and tubes that I am connected to are significantly less, which makes it easier to get around. Later in the day the two remaining tubes showed some continuing leakage, so we are not out of the woods just yet, more waiting to see if the lung can heal itself with the smaller leak to work with. So lung removal is still a possibility. The doctors determined my IV port had to be removed due to infection concerns, so back to the operating table this morning. This was a relatively easy procedure, but it meant more cutting and more pain. Now I am recovering from the IV port removal surgery and waiting more on the lung to heal itself. I am getting really tired of being in the hospital. -Eric

What's Next?

I don't have a lot of new information, but I will tell you what I know and what the plan is. The experiments to get the hole in my lung to seal on it's own have not worked, it has been nearly two weeks and it's time to take the next steps. Tomorrow morning about 6AM they will take me into the operating room for exploratory surgery to find the exact location of the hole(s) and try and stitch them up. If they cannot stitch up the hole(s) directly, then removal of a part or all of the left lung will be required. This is called a Lobectomy if only one lobe is removed, or a Pneumonectomy if they remove the entire left lung. In my case if any removal is required they would start with a Lobectomy of the lower left lobe and then do a Pneumonectomy of the left lung as needed. The length of the surgery is dependent on what they determine needs to be done. It could be 20 minutes or a few hours. Based on my conversations with the doctors, and their external observations, it sounds very likely that removal of some part or the whole of my left lung will be required. If any removals are needed then they will likely have to remove another rib from my chest. They have already removed one rib during the initial surgery when they were attempting to clean out the infection in my lung. Once the lung is removed, the empty space is naturally filled with fluids by the body to compensate for the loss. I will have to receive an epidural for pain management, and I will still have a tube in my chest to monitor/mitigate things for a day or two after the surgery. Expected recovery time in the hospital is three to five days after the surgery. Thanks for all the support and prayers. Wish me luck. -Eric

Hot Date

It's Friday night at the Hospital and Monica and I did not want to miss our date night. So what do you do? We both crawled into my hospital bed, snuggled up and watched a movie together. It was awesome. I was a little short of breath today, but Monica has always taken my breath away. Take care. -Eric

update

Hey all, I did not get any glue put into my lung today. They put the probe into my lungs and figured out that the leak is coming from the upper left lobe which is the relatively healthy lobe so they did not want to fill that up with glue. They said that they would give it a few more days to see if it will heal on its own. I am still on the schedule for surgery for Monday. We'll know more tomorrow. I will keep you all informed. -Eric

next steps

The leak continues in my lung with no end in sight. The doctors have come up with an idea that will potentially prevent the need of any surgery to remove all or part of my left lung. They will put a probe into my lower left lobe, on this probe there will be a balloon which will inflate the lobe. Once the lobe is inflated they will be able to identify the location of the leak and apply some glue over the leak to plug the hole, and allow it heal. The success rate of this procedure is not great, and there are risks associated with this procedure, but the risks are low. At this point this is the only option we have to potentially avoid surgery. If this does not work, then I have been penciled in for surgery on Monday morning. -Eric

what's up

It has been a busy month. It started with us taking the kids to Disney World. The trip was great! The kids had a great time, the parents survived, and I felt good the whole time. We were blessed, and we really enjoyed our trip.
Two days after returning from Disney World I got sick. I did not think much of it since it's typical for me to feel a bit under the weather as I am still under going chemotherapy. My doctor thought otherwise, and wanted to check me into the hospital for some testing. I did not want to go in since I thought it was nothing, he convinced me otherwise. Upon checking into the hospital , and running some tests, they discovered some infection and fluids in my lungs that required immediate attention. Surgery was scheduled for the next morning to remove the infection/fluids. Upon performing the surgery they discovered that the lower left lobe was collapsed and nothing more than a ball of cancer, and the upper left lobe was completely collapsed. While attempting to clean out the infection/fluids from the lungs they discovered a hole somewhere in my lungs. They installed four tubes in my lungs to drain the fluids, and inflate the lungs. And they put me on continuous antibiotics to clean out the infection. They had to remove one of my ribs during the surgery to get better access to my lungs. I now have a very large scar (~ 30 staples) on my left side, not to mention the holes where the tubes are inserted. I can't leave the hospital until the hole has been plugged. The idea is that if they can get the fluids out and the lobes inflated the lung walls will seal itself against the plural cavity and seal the hole. I have been in the hospital for one week now as they try to seal off the hole. It is slow going and the doctor says it could take another two to three weeks in the hospital to seal off the hole, if they can do it at all. If the hole cannot be sealed then surgery will be required to either remove the lower left lobe, or both the upper and lower lobes. The surgery is risky so we will give the lungs more time to heal themselves before going with that option. There is a lot of pain associated with the rib removal, and the tubes in my lungs. They are controlling the pain with pain medications, and the infection is being treated with antibiotics. The worst of it is the waiting, and staying in the hospital. Monica has been able to stay with me in the hospital nearly every night. She is awesome. I could not do any of this without her. My brother has taken the kids to his house for the week. This is a great distraction for them, and it gives Monica and I some time to resolve this issue. The nurses have been great, the food is good, but the length of stay at the hospital is tough. Another three weeks here may kill me, if the cancer does not. Thanks to all who have helped us, or offered help. And thanks to those who have kept us in their prayers. Take Care -Eric

Did you hear that? ... I did.

I lost most of the hearing in my left ear about a year ago. I had numerous appointments with an ENT, antibiotic treatments, an ear tube put in, but no improvement; and no explanation for the hearing loss. We went in for second opinion with another ENT last week. I was getting tired of pretending that I could hear what people were saying. (huh, what did you say?) After the new ENT did an examination and a complete cleaning of the eardrum. (I make this sound trivial, but it actually hurts quite a bit) I could hear better. Underneath the crusted over eardrum he found a hole in my eardrum. Not sure how it got there, but due to this hole the sound is not properly transferred through the eardrum to the nerves. So even though I can hear better with all the crud cleaned off, the eardrum is still damaged and my hearing is still far from perfect. Options include surgery to patch the hole, a hearing aide, or do nothing. There are pros and cons to each option. We're mulling these over and will be visiting the ENT again in about a month to decide which way to go. In the meantime I am enjoying my improved hearing. As I drove to work the other day I stuck finger in my good ear and sang loudly all the way to work, it sounded sweet. The guy in the car next to me probably thought I was nuts. Take care. -Eric