Post Op Update

As far as lung tumors go Cody's was text book perfect - exactly what a surgeon would want to work with. Everything went well in surgery. Cody was a rockstar anesthesia patient; meaning all his vitals (temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, etc.) stayed within the parameters one would want while under anesthesia. His tumor was very well circumscribed (sort of encapsulated; think of a billiard ball) and very distal (at the far end of the lung); two factors that help with removal. The closer the tumor is to the hilus (think of the hilus as the "top" of the lungs - the place where everything starts branching) the harder it is to remove. Cody's tumor was in the right caudal lung lobe far away from the hilus. The surgeon removed the entire lung lobe. Lucky for Cody he's still got two lobes on the right side. All in all he really didn't loose much lung capacity.

The surgeon had a hard time finding the lymph node because it was small. This is a good thing. She did find it eventually, removed it and reported to me that it was about the size of a bean. This is promising. We're hoping that a small lymph node is consistent with no cancer in that lymph node. Cross your fingers.

The entire lobe plus lymph node have been sent to the laboratory. Now we wait on the results.

Cody had a chest tube in after surgery. The tube is placed into the chest cavity to help remove air that gets into the chest cavity during surgery. After closing up the chest all the air that got in while the chest was open needs to be removed to create negative pressure so that the lungs work properly. When there is air outside the lungs it prevents the lungs from expanding...or otherwise known in lay terms as a collapsed lung. The tube stays in place over night and air is sucked out of the chest periodically. When no more air comes out of the tube it is removed. Cody's tube was removed this afternoon. When I visited he had the tube out and was comfortable. He got a little excited and whiny when he saw me, so we didn't visit long. He needs his rest. He's got his octopus friend to keep him company and I'm comforted knowing he is in good hands. He may be able to go home tomorrow.