Early Morning Thoughts- Update on Bob

My understanding from the Cancer Center here in Arizona is that some lung tumors are operable if caught soon enough. They are also doing a lot more of what is called minimally invasive surgery or VATS (Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery). Dick had his lung tumor removed in October by VATS and did very well with that surgery. He was out of the hospital in 4 days and it would have been 3 except he had a gout attack and would not get out of bed because of the pain in his feet. The lung surgery has been the least of his problems. I would expect the team at Guelph to go over all the alternatives with you Lorrie and give you the pros and cons of each. Julie

Hi Lorrie...me again...

I can't get you guys off my mind this morning...I have a few questions...

The nodes they see in his lungs, are they pathological? Meaning are they big enough to take out and get a pathology report on?

The reason I ask is because if they are...Radiation might be a better route...They can direct the "Beam" right at the node(s) and kill the cancer in just a few treatments. I suggest this because Bob seems to have been through alot with surgeries, infections, and recovery time...Honestly the worst part about Radiation for my husband was getting ready for a daily appointment that lasted only 15 min. It made him alittle tired, but other than that no effects at all. I am not suggesting that there aren't risks with Radiation as well or other side effects that can occur, I just think in your situation they are less than with surgery. Bob will be able to come home daily and work as he does now. Are they suggesting any Chemo? Just more questions to ask the oncologist on your next visit. By the way you can also call them to ask questions too.


On your side,
Karen

Hi- We probably won't get any more info. until late next week. From what I was able to digest from yesterdays appointment, there are 2 spots in 1 lung that may be operable. She has a 'team' which meets to discuss cases & she will be presenting to them. Also, she wants her pathologist to review the tests done here in Guelph - there is some question about the results-hmmmm, why am I not surprised? Looking back, we should have insisted on being referred to this centre at the start- that saying about hindsight is never more true. I think she was quite impressed with Bob & his attitude toward the pain he is having - his theory " if I'm going to hurt, I might as well work at something to take my mind off it". Bob & I look after an apartment building & there is a lot of maintenance work to do . The past few weeks, he has started doing plumbing, electrical & even some carprentry work. Rating pain on a scale of 1-10, he claims about 4 (personally I think it's about 6)so has started taking tylenol 3 every 4 hrs.as advised by the homecare nurse, which doesn't do much but he doesn't want the morphine until absolutely necessary. When I know more, I'll post. Lorrie

Lorrie,

Give me so more info!!!!Surgery? Thats Great! What is this new Oncologist planning on doing?

Karen

For the 1st time in a very long time, we are feeling somewhat(I don't want to jinx anything here) hopeful. It's quite a wonderful feeling really,.......here's hoping it lasts.We had an appointment at the Grand River Cancer Centre in Guelph, ON. What an amazing place this is, as soon as we walked in the door we were greeted and enveloped by kind caring professional people & even though we had to go through the gathering of the same information for the 100'th time, we didn't mind. They gave us all(our incredible children ages 38 & 34 insisted on being there for support, for which we are so grateful) such a sense of- 'we are going to help you'.The Oncologist that we met was amazing! Bottom line of this visit----(I'm hoping Andrea posts something here)---surgery MAY be a possibility after all.Bob is willing to undergo anything at this point so I will support whatever he wants to do. The anger is still there--we have an appointment with the 1st Urologist this morning (I hope you don't read about me going to jail for murder- lol), I'll update on that later. Thank you all for your continued interest and support- we are so grateful for the honesty and caring on this site, Regards, Lorrie