bilobectomy

i can't see much of the sky from my hospital window, as it sits at the bottom of a courtyard surrounded by four tall buildings. but when i have caught glimpses of it over the past three days or so i know the sky has been quite blue and sunny. and cold. my favorite weather.

it is a perfect greeting because i received good news earlier this week; my docotr was able to remove many of my tumors via a bilobectomy, not a pneumonecotmy, which means i still have part of my right lung along with my entire left one. according to my parents he looked "tired" after the three-and-a-half hour prcedure, and described it as "challenging" but all i had to do was sleep. i don't recall having too hard a time coming out of anasthesia, which is nice. i think i woke up when they removed my breathing tube.

i have a chest tube draining fluid and air out of my right side. it is not too uncomforatble and i am glad it is there because i am collecting quite a bit of air in my body cavity. it cracks and gurgles when you press on it, like rice crispies. it is collecting only in my subcutanious skin layer, and according to the doctors we just need to hang in there until we can suck it all out. i am doing some breathing exercises and coughing in the meantime, and i have gone for two walks. getting up and moving around is a challenge, but my doctor cracked a smiled today when i told him i'd challenge my brother to a race later.

the crepitus (rick crispy sound) is more annoying than anything else and i had a bad reaction to one other drug, otherwise it has been a pretty good experience so far. the constant beeping of monitors drives me nuts, i always want to know whether it is mine that is beeping, so i wake up at night and check my numbers. also the chest tube extends from where it exits my side to behind my right scapula, so it gets painful when lying on my back all night. i've begun sleeping sitting up mostly. things seem to improve slowly each day. on wednesday i was so swollen mom and jimnerd didn't recognize me when they arrived here. i am not so swollen now. things tire me out quickly, but i was anticipating that.

which is why i'll finish the blog now. it is nearly time for a most certainly crappy tasting dinner, but first, another walk.