- Jul 26, 2008
- 3,512
- 2,058
2019 has been the year of the hospital for me. Got a prostate biopsy at the end of last November (positive), and during that a bug somehow jumped from my colon to my blood. At first just mild, nagging fever, then it got really bad--in hospital two different times (couple weeks each) in later Jan/Feb. Kind of got better, kind of didn't. Went to another hospital (local uni one) since they'd found another issue when checking if my prostate had metastasized (lung spot, a different thing--not metastasis), and in checks for that they discovered the blood infection (fever) had damaged my aortic valve. (Please mr. jdd, step this way and lay down (immediate admission), don't go home, we can't be responsible if you do.) Two weeks later they split my sternum, heart-lung machine and all, and replaced my that valve. Stayed in hospital from mid-March to May 7th, since they wanted to continue IV drug for the blood infection to make sure it was gone (it is).
So next comes some surgery (on the 11th) on the lung spot, right upper lobe, or RUL as it is abbreviated in my google reading. The spot is actually visible on a couple CTs from five years ago (my bad crash), and has only changed ever so slowly since. It's now about 17mm on its long axis (CT)--still small. PET scans last December and mid-Aug do show a bright spot, meaning cancer, but as different docs have been saying all along, they won't know for sure exactly what it is till they can do lab work on it. The plan is to take out about a third of my RUL, and do some immediate lab work on it. If it's nothing, they stop there and close me back up; if it's "something", they take the rest of the RUL.
On the positive side, it's still quite small, and it's very slow moving. As one doc said, if it was the bad kind, you'd be dead already. Also, if I hadn't followed up by getting a biopsy for a high PSA number, which then led to some further tests, this would have gone undiscovered--so now it has been discovered, and will be cut out far earlier and smaller in size than if it got big enough to generate its own symptoms. In that sense, thanks to probable prostate cancer, I found out about it far earlier than I otherwise would have. Staging won't be done till about two weeks after surgery, but it's likely a version of stage I. Or it might be nothing. Fingers crossed.
So the last couple days I've been reading about how resection of a lobe affects things like VOmax and pulmonary capacity. There are quite a few papers (some too technical for me) that look that depending on which lung lobe it is, past history, etc. (I've never smoked, don't have emphysema/COPD) I guess I'll have to wait and see how the coming recovery goes--I doubt I'll be doing any actual riding till spring, tho the trainer might be given the okay.
My previous surgeries have been fixes/repairs so that I'd be as good as before (or almost), or that was the goal. This one will be different--they take something out, and I'll have to get along with what's left. Some of those research papers do mention that a remaining lobe can grow a little if an adjacent one is removed, but that's not a done deal by any means.
At least I'm retired, and don't have to (haven't had to) deal with a workplace while getting these things done. My wife still works, but her classes don't start till the end of the month, so this one is good timing for her, too. And hey, if this one goes okay, then maybe my prostate (which has been ignored/back-burnered all this year) will finally get its time in the spotlight!
(And I'm glad I'm in Japan for all this. I think I've gotten excellent care, and I'm not bankrupt.)
So next comes some surgery (on the 11th) on the lung spot, right upper lobe, or RUL as it is abbreviated in my google reading. The spot is actually visible on a couple CTs from five years ago (my bad crash), and has only changed ever so slowly since. It's now about 17mm on its long axis (CT)--still small. PET scans last December and mid-Aug do show a bright spot, meaning cancer, but as different docs have been saying all along, they won't know for sure exactly what it is till they can do lab work on it. The plan is to take out about a third of my RUL, and do some immediate lab work on it. If it's nothing, they stop there and close me back up; if it's "something", they take the rest of the RUL.
On the positive side, it's still quite small, and it's very slow moving. As one doc said, if it was the bad kind, you'd be dead already. Also, if I hadn't followed up by getting a biopsy for a high PSA number, which then led to some further tests, this would have gone undiscovered--so now it has been discovered, and will be cut out far earlier and smaller in size than if it got big enough to generate its own symptoms. In that sense, thanks to probable prostate cancer, I found out about it far earlier than I otherwise would have. Staging won't be done till about two weeks after surgery, but it's likely a version of stage I. Or it might be nothing. Fingers crossed.
So the last couple days I've been reading about how resection of a lobe affects things like VOmax and pulmonary capacity. There are quite a few papers (some too technical for me) that look that depending on which lung lobe it is, past history, etc. (I've never smoked, don't have emphysema/COPD) I guess I'll have to wait and see how the coming recovery goes--I doubt I'll be doing any actual riding till spring, tho the trainer might be given the okay.
My previous surgeries have been fixes/repairs so that I'd be as good as before (or almost), or that was the goal. This one will be different--they take something out, and I'll have to get along with what's left. Some of those research papers do mention that a remaining lobe can grow a little if an adjacent one is removed, but that's not a done deal by any means.
At least I'm retired, and don't have to (haven't had to) deal with a workplace while getting these things done. My wife still works, but her classes don't start till the end of the month, so this one is good timing for her, too. And hey, if this one goes okay, then maybe my prostate (which has been ignored/back-burnered all this year) will finally get its time in the spotlight!
(And I'm glad I'm in Japan for all this. I think I've gotten excellent care, and I'm not bankrupt.)
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