Bronchoscopy VATS/Biopsy

We got up this morning at 4:00 to be at the Huntsman by 6:00 for Trent's surgery.  We weren't too nervous until Trent got all changed into his gown.  Then the jitters started.  We weren't really 100% sure what the procedure was going to be.  Trent had a bronchoscopy a few weeks ago but was only slightly sedated.  We thought that procedure might be similar to what was being done today.  We were only a little bit right.  They did take a look down his throat into his lungs with a video.  Then they went in through his back and side to get a look on the outside of the lungs, within the chest cavity.  They also removed all of the fluid on Trent's lungs to have that tested as well.  While Dr. Carr was poking around in there he found an "implant" on Trent's diaphragm.  This implant might be a cyst or a tumor.  He plucked that off and sent it to pathology.  He then looked at the entire diaphragm and found nothing out of the ordinary anywhere else.

The whole time I was waiting I was not nervous at all.  But then when Dr. Carr finally came to get me I started shaking like a leaf.  I had to keep telling myself to relax because I thought it was really obvious how much I was shaking.  Dr. Carr showed me all the pictures he had taken and there was only one that he was concerned about-the one with the tumor on the diaphragm.  He said that it might be a deal breaker for the surgery on the lung.  Yikes!  They may have to resect the area of the diaphragm where they removed the little tumor.  They would patch it up with gor-tex, the material used to make coats.  There is also a possibility they would have to remove Trent's entire diaphragm and rebuild him one with gor-tex.  That was a lot of information to swallow.  Dr. Carr said that the procedure went very well and Trent was doing fine.  After he left me I took a few minutes to digest everything.  There are some very important decisions hinging on what the pathology report shows.
By Tuesday all the pathology results should be in and by Wednesday we will know what they are and what Dr. Freidberg intends to do about it. 

Trent has done very well today.  He has only a small incision on his back and a chest tube that goes from his side clear up under his collarbone.  It is very painful when he moves but that should all be gone when the tube is removed tomorrow morning.  He was not allowed to ea tor drink anything at all today.  That makes for a long day for someone who loves food as much as Trent does! 

We were lucky enough to have two friends from Providence stop by today.  We had such a great time talking to them both and spending time with them.  It really helped the day go by faster.  We talked a bit about our old neighborhood in Providence and how many people in that area have or have had cancer.  It is astounding!  I have always wondered if there was something there and today I learned of at least three more cases of cancer.  It makes me wonder...

All in all Trent is doing great and is in good spirits.  He will need a lot of rest for the next few days but should be doing almost everything he did before by Tuesday.  So now the prayers begin for a good report from pathology!