It won't happen to me

Have you heard that one before? "I won't get cancer, I'm too tough" - right. That's my husband talking there. One day, he took a flight of stairs - when he got to the top, he blacked out. I had to make him go to the doctor - that was in April 2006. By the time August came - we had the diagnosis. Then the battery of tests began, hosptial stays, inpatient surgeries. I'll never forget the day in the hospital when the doctor came and told us just how serious this was - Stage IIIB. Of course the silver lining was that it wasn't Stage IV. We had quite the team of doctors now - Pulmonologists, Surgeons, Radiologists - all working together to save us. Not just him - us.

The next nine weeks were all about chemo and radiation. See the tumor was SO big, it was in his left lung and the roots were entangled with his heart. They had to try and shrink it first - and the entire lung had to go. Not a piece, not a resection - the whole thing. I became the best nurse in the world. Believe it or not - my husband never: a) lost his hair, or b) lost his appetite. All his chemo friends couldn't believe it! Luckily, it shrunk enough, surgery was the first week of December '06.

At one point, late that evening, while we were waiting to see him - a doctor came out, a young doctor in training, incredulous at what had happened. He told us that the surgery my husband had - had only been attempted 23 times in the last 10 years - globally. Of that 23 - 2 had died on the table and just 10 were still alive today. Apparently, the tumor was in a junction of the lung and near the heart - they had a cardiac surgeon in too and the heart actually had to be lifted to get the lung out. Scary.

Ever been in intensive care? They had a nurse dedicated to my husband who stood at the end of the bed for 24 hours. Monitoring everything. It was truly a miracle to see what was happening. Believe it or not 1 day after this operation - they told him it was time to get up and move. What?!? Get up and walk? He did! They have this amazing contraption made of PVC pipe that everything hooks onto - it's on wheels, and has a seat. They actually got him into it and he made a lap around the unit. Unbelievable!

He was out in 10 days. Home for Christmas. Miracles happen. In my next entry - I'll talk more of his recovery. It hasn't been easy. The one lung he had remains full of pneumonia and it's a battle to keep him out of the hospital. If I had one wish - it would be that everyone stops smoking. It can happen to you.