Laura's Lungs

NO MORE CANCER! I just got back from the doctor’s recheck visit and the pathology report shows that there is no ore cancer! Everything that was there was removed during the surgery so I do NOT have to endure any chemo, radiation, voodoo or any other therapy.

Whew! What a relief!

And by, the way, if you haven’t quit smoking yet, please do. This is not a fun experience to go through!

I found this video that is done about the type of surgery that I had. The first doctor who speaks, Dr. Toloza, is my physician who performed the surgery. I loved that he did it without his shoes on in the video but then my friend Maegan told me that he’s using foot pedals and you can get a better feel of exactly what your feet are doing with those pedals without shoes on.

You can find the video on YouTube by just clicking below or by searching for Moffitt Robotic Surgery. It is usually the top one – Breakthroughs – Robotic Assisted Surgery at Moffitt Cancer Center. It is 5 1/2 minutes long and worthwhile!

Moffitt is definitely a well-oiled machine but even the most efficient of well-oiled machines are only as good as their weakest point. Unfortunately, this was displayed shortly after my surgery last Thursday.

The simple IV pole has been elevated by necessity with the technologies that are making our medical procedures better. Now, in addition to the IV fluids bag, the IV pole must hold additions to IVs such as antibiotics or other medications so a couple of more hooks. Since nerve blocks have become such a mainstay of pain relief, a machine to regulate the amount of medication delivered to the nerve as well as a mechanism for holding the medications, themselves has to be accommodated not to mention a way to let the patient and nursing staff know when those medications are becoming low or if something is keeping the medications from being applied. Since those need to be attached to the patient at all times, those technologies also have to be on the portable IV pole. Since a chest drainage tube was required that also had to be accommodated as well as a pump that helped remove fluids and air from the area between the lung and its lining.

The required walks were only accomplished if you could drag the pole along with you and you could keep from all of the wires and tubes from becoming a big knot.

When the medication from the nerve block became low an obnoxious beeping began and kept up until a nurse came in to turn it off, hopefully with replacement medication for the nerve block. The nerve block uses steroids to reduce inflammation along with opioids to block the ability to feel the pain from the surgery. Since opioids are used there has to be a mechanism to lock the drugs up, keeping anyone from stealing them.

My nerve block was put into place during surgery. By the time surgery was finished and I spent some time in recovery the medication was already getting low. I arrived in my room after recovery and the alarm went off to let us know that the nerve block medication was getting low. We called a nurse, she came in, turned off the alarm and left to get more medication. The medication is dispensed constantly but if you need more you can press a button to receive some extra. The button will only give you medication as often as it is programmed to and you can tell if you will get medication by the light on the button. Mine was programmed to allow extra medication every 10 minutes.

While we were waiting for the nurse to return the alarm started a new sound, indicating that there was no more medication. I didn’t need to read the indicator to tell me that there was no medication being dispensed. The pain was increasing since that was the only pain relief that I was receiving at the time. Link went off to locate the nurse with the replacement medication. He returned with the news that she had the replacement but was hunting for the key to unlock the machine to replace it. Someone (the weakest point in that well-oiled machine) had not put the key back where it belonged.

The pain increased with no relief in site and I was offered different pain medication. The pain pills would take a half hour before I’d get any relief but I was willing to try anything. An injectable was offered and that gave some immediate relief while the elusive key was sought. Someone finally went to another floor and borrowed their key. Thank goodness!

A man came into my room and without introducing himself as the charge nurse for the floor, began apologizing for the mixup. He then admitted that he had foreseen the possibility of a lost key and had ordered an extra key to be kept in his office but since he hadn’t communicated that to anyone nobody knew to use it. After apologizing again he offered to make me a personalized splint to use to put pressure on my incisions as I coughed.

I found out later that the key was found from my night nurse. The story of the lost key was apparently passed on to the next shift.

Regardless of this unfortunate incident, Moffitt is still #1 in my book. I have definitely benefitted from their care!

I couldn’t get my iPad to update this while I was in the hospital so I just kept notes of what was happening so I could pass it on to you! These are the notes:

Wow.  I had planned on being up and around and feeling as great as possible and for the most part I have exceeded my expectations!

Surgery was day before yesterday at noon-ish so I didn’t get out of bed until about 11pm but I was up and tooling around the hospital, then.  Yesterday I walked about a mile.  Going for a walk entails unplugging the pole that has my pain meds pump, my chest tube and pump, and my IV and then dragging the pole with me through the hospital.  

The first night they gave me yellow socks.  Yellow socks indicate that the patient should not be getting up or wandering the hospital without a staff member.  I quickly graduated to brown socks that allowed me to go wandering by myself.  I think they just got tired of going for walks with me.

I stay in the hospital until my lung incision is no longer leaking air.  Early yesterday morning there was a very slight leak, so I got to stay at the amazing Moffitt Cancer Center one more day.

This morning there were NO air bubbles so as soon as the paperwork gets done I can get out of here!  My chest tube was removed – thank goodness!  It has been the source of a great deal of my discomfort over the past few days!

Since I had the robotic surgery my limitations are minimal.  My right arm can only lift 10 lbs and I can’t drive.  I should not cough or strain in any way that could pull that lung incision apart (I will really listen to that one because I don’t want to do this again!). I can’t submerse myself in water so no swimming with the dogs for a couple of weeks.

I look somewhat like a drug addict from the IVs and blood draws.  But the cancer has been removed so that’s a small price to pay!  They removed some lymph node tissue which is getting tested to make sure that no cancer has gotten loose in the lymph system – we’ll get those results in two weeks when I go in for a recheck.

Thank you for all of the messages of encouragement – they have meant a lot to me!

The Moffitt experience has been pretty amazing. Everyone that I have had the pleasure of meeting seems to love their job and are extremely friendly.  Even more importantly, they are competent and professional.  

I am SOOO tired! I took a nap this afternoon and hopefully I will get a full night’s sleep tonight in my own comfortable bed!

Mom is in recovery and is doing well. She’s in relatively good spirits, well enough to complain about having to be on an all-liquid diet for now.

P.S. Apparently the RATS machine is called “DaVinci” based on the brand name. The Nurse Anesthetist said he calls it “Reggie.” My vote is still for “Templeton.”

P.P.S. The Nurse Anesthetist also introduced himself to mom as her “bartender.” 🙂

Hi everyone! Mom underwent her surgery this morning. She’s out of surgery and in recovery. The doctor said everything went well. I’ll post another update in a few hours once we’re able to see her.

First, a poll. As mom explained below, the machine the doctor uses in this surgery is called a RATS machine. Last night we discussed what the staff actually calls the machine. What do you think? Share in the comments which name you think is the best.

Second, some things to do and some things not to do after mom gets out of surgery.

Things To Do:

• Send her texts of encouragement and well wishes.
  • She won’t be able to reply right away but will know you’re thinking of her!
• Send her things she likes. Suggestions include:
  • Pictures of your kids/grandkids (human and non-human).
  • Anything bashing Donald Trump.
• Bring her food.
  • You may know that my father is not the greatest cook in the world. (Understatement of the year.) Save her from weeks of frozen food, takeout, and microwave popcorn.

Things NOT To Do:

• Ask that she or her family send you updates on how she’s doing.
  • It’s hard to keep track of who she’s told what, when. And it’s a lot of emotional labor to recount what’s going on to every single person. Check the blog for updates instead! You can sign up to get an email every time there’s a new post (no need to make an account) — just click the “Follow” button in the bottom right corner.
• Send her anything that’s going to make her laugh too much.
  • It will be hard on her lungs to laugh for a few days. It is going to be hard enough to keep her from laughing normally!
• Use her condition or experience with healthcare as an opportunity to share your political views.
  • Multiple people have taken it upon themselves to use mom’s diagnosis and encounters with doctors to share why they don’t like Medicare for All or other liberal health care plans. Don’t do this. It’s going to make her mad. It’s going to make me mad. And making us both mad is not something you really want to have to endure.
  • If I find out that you make such comments to her, I will donate $100 to any Democratic presidential candidate supporting Medicare for All and make sure that the donation is in your honor.

Thanks again to everyone for your support. It means a lot to mom and all of her family. Here’s to looking forward to being cancer-free!

-Kaitlin

My guardian angel (and her parents) was visiting and we had plans to go to Disney but Moffitt scheduled me for all the pre-anesthesia testing that they require prior to surgery. Moffitt wins (but I left right after it was done to go to Disney to meet them.)

I had an interview with the anesthesia nurse and nurse practitioner so they could verify that I was healthy enough to undergo anesthesia. While I was waiting a volunteer gave me some lemon drops and also some information on a non profit that supplies a support system if you need it. She explained that she was also a patient and that she had stage 4, inoperable lung cancer and had been diagnosed three years previously at age 39. She was really nice and open about her disease. I gave her one of the pendants that I had decorated with a white lung cancer ribbon and she put it on, immediately.

Chest X-Ray – simple and quick.

Blood work. Eleanor was super nice and drew what seemed like about two gallons of blood in various tubes but it was done in a manner that was pretty easy on me. I told her I needed to get a picture for Kaitlin of her tourniquets that were in a basket and nicely labeled. (Kaitlin had an adventure coming home from work the day before she traveled to Florida where she came upon a man who had just been shot, got a rag from a store to use as a tourniquet and some towels from a pizzeria to use to put pressure on the wound. Not kidding.) I told her the story and she gave me a tourniquet to give to Kaitlin.

Done! I could leave and go meet the family at Disney! While I was waiting for my car at the valet pickup I saw a patient who looked as though she had just had some treatment and was also leaving. She was in a wheelchair and leaning heavily to one side. She was thin, painstakingly thin, emaciated thin and her eyes looked sunken, blank and miserable. She reminded me of people who had been in concentration camps.

It struck me again that I am so fortunate to have caught this early. Someone may have to remind me of that on Thursday night!

Speaking of which, Kaitlin will be updating this when they get information from my doctor after the surgery is finished on Thursday. The surgery is scheduled for 12:15 and they anticipate it taking between 3 and 4 hours. Once the surgery is complete, I’ll be moved to recovery for about two hours before moved into my room. I will be hospitalized for somewhere between two to five days, depending on how quickly and well I heal.

And if I haven’t told you recently, I really appreciate your support!

Today Moffitt Cancer Center was introduced to me. Lucky them. I was pretty impressed with the place. The email and text reminders of the appointment gave explicit instructions of going to the Gold Valet and then take the B elevators to the 3rd floor to the Thoracic Clinic. It didn’t look that clear at first, but having been there now, it totally makes sense.

We made our way through this gigantic complex, following the directions and found the Thoracic Clinic. I checked in and sat in the Richard Gonzmart Family Waiting Area.  I found chairs with an electric outlet for Link’s laptop but he thought there wouldn’t be much of a wait.  Then we noticed the puzzle area where there are shelves with more than 25 puzzles – 500 and 1000 piece puzzles.  There’s also a blue, lit up Moffitt Cancer Center Charging Station with multiple different cords with various plugs hanging prominently on a wall. A woman sat near us with her soft-side cooler that looked as though it could hold a 12-pack of cans and her tote bag that had two books with at least a few hundred pages. One of them had a bookmark about halfway through the book.  We took the seats with the electric outlet.

I was given a pager which went off quickly revealing that I should go to check-in desk #6 where Rozanna checked me in.  She verified some information, took some new information, took the scan cds and print reports that I had brought along and then sent me back to the waiting room.

Alessandra came through the waiting room looking for me.  She is with the research department at Moffitt.  She explained that if you agree, Moffitt collects research data on every patient that comes for any type of treatment.  They keep all the data so that any researcher that starts a new study has a lot of data to get them started.  I quickly agreed to be part of that since it can help people in the future (really, I think that anyone who doesn’t participate is a pretty selfish git). 

My pager went off again, indicating that we should go to door T. We met Sara, Dr. Toloza’s nurse.  She went over current medications and allergies then gave me contact information for their team.

Carla, the nurse practitioner and Dr. Toloza’s assistant reviewed history, checked my lungs, heart, etc. She gave me LOTS of information about surgery.  3-5 days in hospital; RATS surgery (Robotic Assisted Thoracic Surgery); no ICU time and no lasting time on the ventilator; the doctor will take samples of lymph nodes and get those biopsied and we’ll know if they’re all clear (only a 5% chance that they won’t be) by the follow-up appointment two weeks after the surgery; no sitting around lallygagging after surgery – up and walking in about 8 hours and then at least three walks each day; there’s a recliner in the private room and I’ll be in the recliner during the day when not out on one of those walks – the bed is for sleeping, only.

Dr. Toloza offered surgery or radiation but radiation doesn’t get rid of the cancer nor does it check the lymph nodes.  I know some people are that afraid of surgery but I am more fearful of cancer so we’re going with the surgery. He also said that the cancer is in the smallest of my five lung lobes so I will have about a 10% reduction in lung function. Since we are made having more than twice as much lung capacity as we need I should not even notice the loss of that one lobe.

I asked about the September bike trip in France and it reminded him of an I Love Lucy episode where Lucy is in jail in Europe and gets information through several people and their translations. I thought that it was an interesting mix of doing this very progressive surgery and old I Love Lucy episodes, although I’m unsure of why our bike trip reminded him of that episode. Guess I’ll have to watch it. Incidentally, he thought that there was a very good chance that I would be able to make that trip. 🙂

I felt really good about this visit to Moffitt. That’s a great feeling!

Surgery is scheduled for Thursday, August 1st.

I was recently diagnosed with Stage 1 Lung Cancer.

I went to visit my niece, Chelsie’s family and help take care of her 2 1/2 year old, darling daughter because their day care was closing just BEFORE the end of school (Chelsie is a teacher). Someone brought their child into the day care sick with a cold during the last week that the day care was open. Chelsie and her daughter caught the cold and had it for two days. They transferred it to me and I had it for four weeks.

While treating this persistent infection my doctor ordered a chest x-ray and that’s how we found the 1.4 cm spot on my right lung. It was verified by CT and my doctor had me see a pulmonologist who ordered a PET scan and a biopsy. Those both verified that it was a malignant adenocarcinoma – cancer.

I chose to go to Moffitt because I wanted a surgeon who just does lung surgery, hopefully robotic surgery, and I wanted someone who had experience. I found that in Dr. Toloza. He does nothing but chest surgery, and almost all of it is lung cancer surgery. He also does nothing but robotic surgery which provides the easiest and fastest recuperation.

I chose to start this blog to keep all of my family and friends up to date on my progress. When I got the verification from my doctor that we were dealing with cancer it took several hours to go through and notify family and friends and I still missed some people. I knew that I couldn’t keep that up so this is a way to keep everyone who is interested in the loop.

I told Chelsie that if she saw that mom who brought her kid to day care sick she should just punch her right in the face. That was after I had been sick for over 3 weeks. Now I’m thinking that I should be very appreciative that the sick child transferred his cold to Chelsie who transferred that plague to me. And I am.

Most people don’t get a lung cancer diagnosis until they are showing symptoms and the symptoms rarely appear before the cancer has spread all over the lungs and also into other parts of the body. Cancer then requires chemo &/or radiation and also surgery and the prognosis is not great.

I am extremely thankful that my cancer is caught so early that I will probably not require any additional treatment.

90% of lung cancer is caused by smoking. If you smoked or were around a lot of cigarette smoke you should surely consider getting screened BEFORE you have any symptoms.