One day last week when I returned from a walk, I noticed a young man leaning against the wrought iron fence of the playlot next to our house. He was smoking a cigarette as he watched his child play. (Smoking in public parks is now subject to a $500 fine in Chicago.)
As I approached him, I told him I had not yet shown anyone the scar from my recent surgery that had been necessary to remove the upper lobe of my left lung because of cancer. I pulled up my tee shirt to reveal the scar and said “You might want to consider stopping smoking.”
With that he threw down his cigarette, stamped it out, shouted “Oh, my god!” and ran back into the park. At the time I felt very good (and smug). Probably, I had encouraged him to quit smoking. Later I finally looked at the scar. It really is not that impressive; it is rather faint and really small. Maybe the guy just ran off because he had felt threatened by this kook who accosted him on the sidewalk. I still hope that my preface and seeing the scar was such a shock that he imagined a much larger scar, pain and peril.
Here are pictures of my torso that Jana took a few days ago to show the incisions. The line of each incision and its length is shown in the one on the left. It is still amazing that the largest upper lobe that Dr. deHoyos ever removed came out of that 2″ incision.
I continue to walk 3-5 miles a day (in mile long legs) and can now do so with much less napping. I am off all narcotics and relying on ibuprofen for pain control, maximum of 400 mg every 4 hours but normally more like every 6 hours.
Went to the office on Friday for about 3 hours; I returned home totally exhausted, That trip and time in the office was much harder than walking 3 miles. Surely this week Jana and I will make it to the Michigan house.
