October 27, 2007
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28 Days Later
After 28 days in the hospital I am finally back at home tonight. The road to recovery has been far from a walk in the park. Alot has happened from my last entry.
I was transferred to another hospital due to politics involved with the surgeon. There was a difference of opinions between specialists, doctors, and surgeon about the future of my right lung. The surgeon believed that my lung was lost and surgery would not make a difference. The specialists and doctors believed that my lung still had a chance to inflate once again. This difference in opinion sparked my transfer to another hospital and immediately after the transfer I was in the operation room having surgery.
My case is a special one. The membrane of my lung has hardened and increased from a normal thickness of a couple mm to 3 cm. The surgery consisted cutting me open, peeling the membrane down to normal levels and draining the liquid around my lung so that my lung could expand again.
The surgery had complications. I lost alot of blood during the surgery, my blood pressure was very low, I had a fever, and a high white blood cell count. The following week in the ICU was a blur with alot of images and perhaps some illusions from morphine. The wall kept moving and had faces and I kept seeing music videos on the ceiling. The good news was that the lung did expand again, not completely but did expand.
They move me upstairs after one week and TV is back to return my sanity. Slowly my right lung continued to expand while the 2 tubes continue to drain fluid from my body. I’ve had problems sleeping since the surgery due to pain and I guess anxiety. They popped out one tube and continued to monitor my conditions. Thursday this week they removed the other tube and the stables from my skin.
I got the good news Thursday night that I would be returning home on friday. I’m still feeling a fair amount of pain from the surgery and continue to cough a fair amount which is a good thing (helps expand the lung capacity) but the surgery seems like it has been a complete success.
Complete recovery is still very far away. At least 3-6 months more of medications and a few more weeks of quarantine. Thank you for all the emails, messages, and well wishes from everyone! I just read some of your messages today but they mean alot. The hospital is one of the darkest places a person can be for one month. X-rays, CTscans, blood work samples, IV needles, blood thinning shots, hospital food, and the waiting…the waiting is the worst…you have to wait to get something done…then you need to wait to move back to your room…
This experience has helped me realize how lucky I am. Over 10 years of smoking and it wasn’t cancer. One great byproduct of my stay in the hospital is one month being smoke free. Its made the road away from smoking much easier than trying to quit on my own.
The recover continues. Thank you everyone once again for everything.
Comments (3)
Man, good to hear you’re doing well.
Just get lots of rest, sleep is key… it’s a relief tho,
all my kung fu boys were worried about you, i’ll let them know whats going on.
Quarantine? for fear of infections?
Get well soon.
Glad to hear you’re gettin better man!
impressed by the positive perspective on things. get well soon. i’m just thinking about what i’d do if i suddenly had a whackload of time and i think i’d be doing a lot of reading and writing. sounds silly but i hope you find a way to enjoy your road to recovery. keep us posted buddy.