Well, I guess this was always in the cards eventually, but tomorrow I am having my first surgery. As far as I can tell, it's not too invasive, other than the fact that all surgery is kind of invasive, but they don't plan to cut into any major organs at this point. Apparently, the plan is to make 4 small incisions in my chest, one for a video camera, and three for some tubes. The tubes will be to essentially "wash" the chest wall and area around the lung with saline and then suck it out, along with any infected material, and also to get a look at any damage that this infection may have caused. Sounds easy, right?
Well, there is obviously some concern over my suppressed immune system from the steroids I've been on, which they have reduced but is still a pretty high dose. There is a window where the rituxan I received a few weeks ago starts kicking in, so the hope is to do this surgery and get some healing in before that gets going. Bottom line, the main worry is the healing after the surgery; whether the lung will heal itself, how bad it actually looks, and they also suspect there is a hole somewhere between my windpipe and the chest wall. Not really even sure what that means, but it's all about the healing.
So, tomorrow I'll some out with more tubes than I went in, and hopefully they will do the job. I'm sure everything will come out fine. I mean, they wouldn't do the surgery if it was too risky. I'm not sure doctors are in the business of gambling with lives, but I who knows? I know I probably won't feel so great afterwards, but I do plan on ordering pizza for whenever my next meal is, so that's at least something to look forward to. Other than that, it's in the hands of the professionals... and fate.
No comments:
Post a Comment