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HickoryC

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Everything posted by HickoryC

  1. Greetings to you Edward, I'm 62 and had lower right lobe removed a bit more than 3.5 years ago. Overall, I think I got back 75-80% of my strength. My surgeon had me get handicap parking space at work for the first 8 months. This is because you regain your strength slowly, one day at a time. As for the severing of nerves, muscles and sometimes ribs, it's like my surgeon said when I asked about the size, "Big enough for me to get both hands and all my tools in." Remain optimistic. Yes, we who have had a successful lobectomy are the lucky ones. God be with you!
  2. Welcome Paula, I didn't read all of the replies but my experience, as far as LC is concerned, reads like Gail's. In January, it will be 4 years since I started down that road. Like, Gail, I had a lobectomy. I must express my concern with the fractions and their possible insinuation. If you have 5 lobes and one is removed, one could say that 1/5 was removed. If that is all, then you really don't even notice any difference in lung capacity, or shall I say that I didn't. The fraction you mention causes me to wonder just what type of surgery are they contemplating. If it is not the resection of a lobe, is it partial? It is normal to want to learn more about the kind of surgery you are going to have. You may wish to read up on "Nodulectomy", "Partial Lobectomy", "Segmentectomy", and "Wedge Resection". May God be with you. He likely has a plan for you here on Earth many year from now. Be thankful it was discovered early.
  3. Greetings Don and All Other Wonderful People, I didn't have chemo so I can't blame my memory loss on that. In my case, it had to have been those 6 days of morphine; either that or there was a slip of the knife and the lobectomy accidentally included a partial lobotomy.
  4. Very happy to hear the meds are working so well for you. The "March of '03 detection but nothing done" event is indeed quite disturbing. Wishing you a full recovery.
  5. HickoryC

    Time line

    Hi Kaffie, This appears to be a difficult choice for you. Maybe you should get opinions from two oncologists who are not associated with each other. My oncology consult was not scheduled until 4 months after the surgery. Lower right lobe removed in my case. The oncologist didn't think it was necessary. I simply felt relieved. That was slightly over 3 years ago. I hope that you will be comfortable with whichever decision you make.
  6. David C Yes - Doable. July is our vacation month.
  7. Hi Debi, Happy to hear about your wheels. Too bad about Napoleon. My lc outcome was like yours in that no rad or chemo after the lobectomy of lower right. My surgeon expected the upper & middle lobes to expand into the cavity but that didn't happen. Did your lower expand into the cavity?
  8. Hi David, Karen, and Faith, Wouldn't that be wonderful! We'll just have to make it happen. We have been to Sevierville-Pigeon Forge (Dollywood/Smoky Mtn) three times in the last 5 years. My geography is not good, but Eastern Tennessee can't be that far from you. What a beautiful child you have! Looks like ya'll are about ready to go camping.
  9. Hi Arayden, Although I'm quite a bit older than you, we went through similar processes. The good news is that, like mine, they probably caught yours in very early stages. I'm now 3.5 years beyond the surgery. Like you, I'm new to this web site. I have avoided sites like this ever since the surgery. Karen, from an RV web site, invited me to visit this site. I have been the greatest beneficiary as the wonderful folks here are the most sincere and caring people in the world. You have come to the right place. All of the advice given thus far is great. Now add two more bits: PRAY and PRAY HARD!
  10. Thanks for all the kindness! I'm now 62. My employer's main function is the operation of a medical school, although I am not in the health-care field, just a business manager. On the Friday before the surgery, I was fortunate enough to be able to have a world renowed physician and surgeon provide a 2nd opinion. On that day, the PET scan had been cancelled for the 2nd time. My insurance was through a regionally highly respected hospital/clinic, Ochsner. The 2nd opinion was provided by LSU docs. Well, after review, the LSU doc strongly advised me to not walk, but run, regardless of the outcome of the PET scan (which did take place the following Monday). With this advice, I was able to get my surgery moved up from that Thursday to Wednesday. According to my most gifted surgeon, the modus-operendi of this particular type of tumor is to form first in the liver, with no symptoms, then spread via lympth nodes to the lung. In my case, the tumor originated in the lower right lobe and the surgery occurred soon enough that it did not have time to spread. Its happenstance in the lung had nothing to do with anything I ever inhaled. In addition, by never having been a smoker, my lungs were in great shape. When asked how large of an opening he was going to make, Dr. Chuck replied, "Well, I've got to make it big enough to get both hands and my tools in." I somehow found that humorous. He also added that he usually breaks a couple of ribs in the process (mine flexed). Since the biopsy attempts had been inconclusive, I made sure that two different labs examined it. Both concluded that it was not benign. Two to three weeks after the surgery, as an office procedure, the surgeon extracted excess fluid that had built up in the cavity. If he made a mistake, this is where it happened. As he inserted the huge needle, he commented that for some reason, it is not recomended that more than two quarts be removed at any one time. Having said that, he proceeded to remove 3 quarts. That is when he and I understood why 2 qts is the limit. I was in a position slightly bent over the exam table, standing. The discomfort (my doc never calls it pain) was so intense that I could not flex from that position for two solid hours. It put me down for a week. If you have fluid drained from a cavity, remember this.
  11. Hi Don & Lucie! Thank you. Greetings from one survivor to another. I hope this was the last time Lucie has to go through this. Your sig tells a whole lot! That snow pic shows a lot of determination too.
  12. Dear Cindy & Beth, Thank you both for your kind words. On the RV site, Karen sent me a private message. She said to be sure and mention that her handle on this forum is "David C", which is her husband's name. David has the terrible small cell. Anyway, Karen inferred that you are probably already familiar with this family that includes a toddler. Now you two are also in my thoughts, and will be in my prayers. Through being led to this forum, where I did not wish to go, I have had to re-live the reality of how fragile life seemed during that time...and it was. The result has been a re-awakening for me that lately I have not been really paying attention. So you see Cindy & Beth, and Karen especially, if you happen to read this, while I may have very little to offer, what I have received is far greater. It is indeed heartening to read that you have succeeded so well in your journey thus far. May God Bless you.
  13. My Warmest Greetings To You! So often the question is, "Why did this have to happen to ....". Many who have led exemplary lives seem to have been poorly treated here on Earth. Perhaps the reward is in the afterlife. I have not led a life that anyone should imitate, yet my LC was a brief interlude, no followup radiation or any other post-op. Three and a half years ago a dirty rotten critter took up residence and grew in my non-smoker's lung. Discovered 6 weeks before the surgery, I worked full time until the day before the surgery and returned to work full time 6 weeks after the surgery. A member of this forum asked me visit this site. I didn't want to and I prefer to forget most of what occurred to me. However, during that time, I encountered some really loving, caring people. I don't know that I could ever be of any assistance to any of you going through this today, but I will try. My best advice is to pray. My next best advice is to pray often. I give thanks to my wife, my surgeon, and Morphine, Yeah! A couple of times during the first 3-4 days following the surgery, I thought I was gonna die, but things improved rapidly.
  14. A member of this forum, whose husband is battling lung cancer, posted a message on a forum for RV owners and wannabees. Karen told me about this forum and suggested I register...so here goes. During December, 2000, a persistent cold in my chest would not go away. First call to PCP reply was that everybody has it and get some over-the-counter remedy. 2nd call, 2 weeks later told they would call in a prescription and take that. 3rd call, another 2 weeks later, told MD too busy but a PA would see me. Joanne (as in Joseph and Anne, parents of Mary) turned out to be an angel, briefly posing on earth as a PA. She immediately ordered X-Rays where one or two suspicious spots showed up in the lower right lobe. She demanded that the clinic move very quickly with biopsies and other tests, ultimately leading to the surgery to remove the lower right lobe. The malignancy was confined to that one location. No followup treatment. Six weeks after the surgery, I returned to work full time and we purchased our first RV that same week. Thanks for having a wonderful wife & family, a brilliant surgeon, a God who does hear our prayers, and many others. Incidentally, Joanne, the PA, loved by all of her co-workers, left the clinic and no one knows where she went...except me.
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