Things are getting a little crazy . . .

First of all, thanks to my sister for setting this up for me.  It will be much easier for me to just put posts up periodically to keep everyone apprised of my newest health updates.

My latest treatment, a clinical trial, did not work out as we had hoped. It turned out I was very allergic to one of the drugs used in the trial.  Since then, I have had a strong impression that we should revisit the idea of surgery to remove the tumors in my lungs.  I was reluctant to go that route in the past as I knew it would be major surgery, and the thoracic surgeon here at Roswell was encouraging me to continue with a systemic approach (chemo, clinical trials) to see if we could first stabilize the disease in my lungs.  It's been a year and a half and not only am I tired of the side effects and allergic reactions, nothing has really worked as we had hoped.  The tumors are growing.  

We went up to visit our daughter, Melissa, and her husband, Charles, in New Haven, CT a few weekends ago.  For those of you who don't know, Charles is a heart surgeon and is doing a 2 year fellowship at Yale Hospital up there.  He just happens to be doing a thoracic rotation right now.  He has been working with Dr. Frank Detterbeck who is the Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Yale.  Dr. Detterbeck happens to have a special interest in sarcoma.  Charles asked me to bring a copy of my most recent CT scan with me so he and Dr. Detterbeck could take a look at it.  Before they had a chance to look at my scan, Charles felt very impressed to tell me that he felt strongly that surgery was my best option.  Those feelings were confirmed when he had a chance to look at my scan.  In turn, my feelings about surgery were also confirmed.  I knew that was what needed to happen.  So, we made an appointment to meet with the thoracic surgeon at Roswell to discuss the idea of surgery to remove the tumors.  Somehow, I just had a feeling it wasn't going to be an easy process.  Sure enough, about 10 days ago, I started to have trouble breathing.  I was a bit short of breath, wheezing a little and developing a cough.  I assumed I was finally beginning to feel the effects of the tumors in my lungs.  So, I just slowed down my activity some thinking it would be fine until I met with the surgeon.  Unfortunately, the symptoms got worse.  I went down to Roswell, and they did a chest x-ray to see what was going on.  It showed a bunch of fluid in the lung cavity between the lung and the chest wall.  They said it wasn't uncommon for patients with cancer in their lungs to experience this. They did a thoracentesis that day and drew almost 2 liters of fluid out of my lung cavity!  I was told that I would feel immediate relief and my symptoms would disappear.  This did not happen.  I finally went back yesterday and had another x-ray.  My left lung has not fully re-inflated because there is still some fluid in there.  So, we talked about immediate options to remedy this.  We opted for a not-so-immediate option of surgery in about a week and a half where they would do a thoracoscopy (go in with a small camera and see what's going on in there).  Depending on what they find, they would do one of two things - if the fluid shows any signs of cancer, they would drain the fluid and do a pleuradesis which is to put talc between the lung and the chest cavity wall which would act as a glue to adhear the lung to the wall.  This would eventually cause scar tissue to form which would keep fluid from collecting there forever more.  If there is no sign of cancer in the fluid, they will drain the excess and implant a little plastic tube in my side which I can utilize to drain the fluid myself if need be.  Here is the kicker - needless to say, I don't want any more cancer showing up in my body whether it be solid, gas or liquid.  But, if this fluid does test positive for cancer, there go my chances for surgery.  No surgeon would operate as far as I've been told.  The good news is, the preliminary testing they did on that 2 liters of fluid came back negative.  However, I've been told that many times when that happens, it's a false negative. (Killjoys!) We'll just have to keep a positive thought.  Continuing on, I texted Charles with this latest development.  He called me back and suggested I come up to Yale and let he and Dr. Detterbeck do the surgery.  He said that they could do the thoracoscopy as well. If everything looks good, and the fluid still tests negative, they could just open me up right there and take the tumors out.  If not, they can do the pleuradesis and call it good.  One surgery instead of two.

So, we are waiting to hear when Dr. Detterbeck can see me, hopefully sometime next week. Per Charles' advice, we have also put a call into Sloan Kettering in NYC to see if we could get in for a consult there.  I'm in the process of getting copies of reports faxed off to both facilities.  Now it's just a waiting game.  My prayer now is that the fluid that is left in my lung won't increase and make things difficult before I can meet with these good doctors!  I'm still a bit short of breath, but I'm functional.  I'm grateful for that!  I've experienced many of the Lord's tender mercies these last few weeks which have strengthened me, and enabled me to remain positive.  I couldn't ask for more at this point.