Finally heard from the surgeon

Of course, just as I walked into an agent's office today, my phone rang and it was Dr. Miller (Doc M -the lung surgeon) who I have been waiting for a week to call me. He pretty much said the same thing that Dr. Saba said-- I could wait 3 months and do another scan, but the smart thing was to go ahead and take the lesions out and not take any chances. He did say he would be able to make a smaller incision than planned, but I am not sure why. He said he would take the lower one (easier to reach) out first biopsy it first, and if it was malignant he would make the incision bigger to get the upper one out -- which is more difficult. Regardless, he will take them both out, but I am not sure why the incision size changes.

He said the risk factor for the surgery itself was about 1%. Before he had told me he felt there was about a 95% chance that the lesions were cancer. When I repeated that today and asked if he felt the same, he indicated we still needed to be concerned, but since I had beem immuno-supressed from chemo, that it could be an infection or inflamation. So, I am a lot more hopeful that this is not cancer. At any rate, if it is, then the chemo has been effective since the lesions are smaller.

So we are going ahead with surgery on the 15th. He said I would be in the hospital 4 or 5 days. Again he said it would not be a problem for me to travel by car or plane (not me driving) to a nearby state even the day I left the hospital, but full recovery will not be for about 3 weeks. That gets me out of a lot of things --carrying suitcases, groceries, vaccuuming (not that I do a lot that mind you), maybe even laundry. That may be pushing it a bit!

Today was a good day. I left the house at 7am for work and did not get home till about 6:30. I am tired, but it was so good to be out visiting my agents. I have full days the rest of the week with local travel and am just waiting to see when I have a pre-op appointment next week to book those days. I have a whole lot of work that needs to be done by the 15th so I am a little panicked, but I think it will take my mind off things.

I don't expect much will change between now and surgery date so if I don't blog for a couple of days, don't worry. I expect between now and then my life will be pretty boring -- mostly work (but not boring to me), trying to get household things taken care of, and having a little fun. My friend Jill from Tn as well as sister-in-law Michelle and niece Elise may all be here Sunday night. I have my tennis team's "end of season" dinner tomorrow night and that is about it. I will surely blog before surgery, and I know Bob will take over and update you all after surgery for a couple of days till I am able!

It has been a long but fun day. I am going to check a few work emails and then just watch TV and crash early. I have a conference call at 7:30 am and then Nurse Kathy comes just after that is over. Have a good evening!