Hello Everyone
Things are looking good here at Timpanogos Regional. It has been up and down, but now we are definitely on an up.
Dr. K was able to find and remove 5 nodules. That's right... he only found FIVE! When you compare that to the 25 he took our the first time in this lung, then you can see we are definitely making some progress. Better still, the surgeon is pretty sure that only one of them was cancer. He thinks the rest of them might just be scar tissue from the last surgery. We don't want to get our hopes up too high for this, but it's hard not to be thrilled at the prospect. We will find out for sure when the pathology report comes in (probably about 3 days).
Okay, so before you say to yourself "lung surgery? piece of cake!" .. let me tell you about yesterday.
Dan decided to get an epidural. Now, he has already had 2 epidurals with both of his previous lung surgeries and they worked great. So, it was a no-brainer deciding to do it again. We are told that the epidural was placed correctly at the beginning of the surgery and the narcotics and numbing meds did great. But sometime during the surgery the epidural punctured the sack that holds the spinal cord. When the anesthesiologist gave Dan his dose of morphine through the epidural to get him through the first couple hours after surgery, it went straight to his spinal cord. So what does this mean? Dan got TEN TIMES the amount of morphine he was supposed to get. Dan stopped breathing so they gave him a syringe of narcan (a drug given to people who overdose on narcotics).
Needless to say, he was a little bit out of it when we saw him. It was quite a show. He was awake, but not at all coherent. When this stage wore off he became extremely tired. But everytime he would drift off to sleep, he would stop breathing. The slow drip of narcan was doing it's best, but he was still extremely overdosed on morphine. For hours and hours yesterday we sat by his bedside watching his chest to make sure it was going up and down. Dan and I had a code. When he would stop breathing, I would squeeze his hand and he would know that he needed to take a breath. This was pretty exhausting for everyone, especially Dan.
Eventually the morphine wore off enough so he could get some rest. Occasionally he still needs reminding, but he is now sleeping well on his own. On the plus side, he was in absolutely no pain yesterday! I'm pretty sure he's not going to feel pain for the next five years!!
Thank you for your prayers. I know that there were angels around him yesterday to protect him from all of the scary things that could have happened. All of his previous surgeries went so perfectly, we were beginning to take that for granted. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for hearing all of our prayers. They really worked: Dan is safe, the news of the nodules appears to be fantastic, all is well now.
We love you all. Thank you, thank you for your love and concern.
PS - Maybe later I'll post some of the funny things Dan said yesterday... I'd better get his permission first :)
2 comments:
I have decided that there really isn't anyone quite like my little sister- you amaze me. You always have even before this test with cancer came. I love you and I am proud of who you are. You are a perfect example of what a wife should be. I have almost a decade on you and still I need to learn so much. I am also proud of the incredible strength Dan has- I want to yell out a colorful words when I stub my toe! And he sits there and takes ALL of this with such courage and character. Dan I really look up to you. Thank you for choosing my sister- you make a great brother!
I wish you both knew how many people are concerned about you both. There have been a lot of phone calls checking in on you guys. You are defiantly loved!
You both are completely Hed-Strong!!
love you always, liz
Dan & melanie,
We are glad to hear you are recovering from the surgery. We are all now more mindful of your situation. I remember the last time i saw you we went on a buggy ride and it took all my skill to not have your stitches come out of your lungs the last time. I don't know about you but lets do it again. I want you to know what a total stud I think you are. I have definitely taken for granted good health all these years. I recently tore completely my mcl acl and pcl in my left leg and had to have a total reconstruction of my leg. Every day I tell myself what a panzy I am for being miserable. It is not fun or easy but this doesn't hold a candle to what you have been through. You have so much faith and strength you are inspiring. It takes alot of energy to show faith every day. I hope that we can strengthen you with our faith and our prayers that you will get better and continue living a christ like life as you have demonstrated. You in your circumstances have uplifted and inspired others. It is almost shameful that us in better circumstances fail to uplift and inspire others as you have. Thank you for your example and we want you to know we love you and our prayers are with your family. BJ & Amber Southwick
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