Hi all!

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.  We sure did!  We took the opportunity to get out of town for a bit and go to the beach.  It was cold and rainy but it was great to spend some time with my family (and my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin) who drove down too.  It was especially good to have a break from the monotony of rehab and clinic, which helped me feel a little more normal.  True normalcy is still a bit elusive but I’ll get there someday.  It is odd because I can do more than I could pre-second set but I feel like I can’t.  I think it’s just a matter of building up my strength and endurance.  Of course the fluid in my chest cavity doesn’t help and that brings me to the purpose of this post.  

I have fluid stuck on my lungs…again.  I previously had it in the hospital, hence the leaky chest tube and being stuck there for a bit.  I also had a procedure called a thoracentesis where they go in with a needle and drain the fluid off.  Which worked, temporarily. The fluid returned pretty much as soon as I got home.  We’d been watching it for the last few weeks and it’s not improving and neither are my PFTs (test used to measure lung function, which should be going up).  My doc felt it was time to deal with this pesky fluid.  Last week I had another thoracentesis, which unfortunately was unsuccessful.  It seems the fluid is thicker and more stuck than the first time so I’m faced with another surgery.  My surgery will be this morning.  We aren’t exactly sure what to expect as far as outcome and recovery goes.  In a perfect world it works well, I have no pain and don’t need those pesky pain meds, recover quickly and don’t have to stay in the hospital but we don’t live in a perfect world do we?  So we will see.  The hope is that this can help me to breath better and be able to fully expand my lungs.  The downside, I was making good progress in rehab and will now likely be set back a while.  If you are the praying type prayers for a safe surgery, easy recovery and a minimal hospital stay would be appreciated, oh and of course no stinking chest tube!  

Thanks for your support!  It really does take a village