Jana and I met with Dr. deHoyos. This was the first meeting. He walked in with a model of the left lung (with little schooling in biology, I had not thought about it, but of course the left and right lungs are not symmetrical - for one thing the left has the heart right next to it). He described the options and how they depended on tests that I should undergo.
There were three primary options.
The decision of which to use would be based on the results of the tests. The PET scan can identify cancerous cells in the body. The pulmonary function tests determines if removal of a lobe would still leave one with adequate lung capacity. The stress test determines ones heart’s ability to handle the prolonged anesthesia and surgery.
If the heart is unable to withstand the stress, the only option is chemotherapy. If removal of the upper lobe would make the lungs unable to perform adequately, a segmentectomy would be performed rather than a lobectomy. If the PET scan revealed other cancer, then surgery might not be a possible treatment; but there were lots of issues to be considered and until we had results from the tests it was impossible to say.
Immediately after the office visit we left for the airport to fly to Birmingham for Mother’s grave side service and memorial service on the following day.
