On other side

The good news is that the surgeon was able to get the whole tumor out...the bad news is that he had to remove the upper lobe of my left lung to do so. I will therefore have some permanently reduced lung function. The surgeon was unable to put in the epidural block to help with the pain, which would have been in for 3 days, so they are managing my pain with IV meds right now, which is leaving me in a perpetual fog. The surgery went longer then expected - when the surgeon opened me up and got in there, he said things were "sticky" from previous treatments, so it took longer to work around things then he thought. But, as I said earlier, they got it all!! I've been able to eat fairly well, although less then I usually eat, and I was especially glad when dinner came last night, since I hadn't eaten since Sunday night! I just took my first walk around the floor with Lisa, two nurses, an oxygen tank, and my IV pole, and it went fairly well. Tomorrow I hope to have my chest tube removed. I'm pretty tired right now, but I'll try to write more tomorrow.