Nancy's Dad and his surgery

Hi all, this is a departure from our usual happy-baobao posts. Nancy's Dad, Paul, had surgery yesterday to remove a tumor from his right lung. (The short history: he smoked 2 packs a day for 30 years. Subsequently he has enjoyed cancer in his colon, bladder, prostate, lungs. It's all directly linked to his smoking.) We are all relieved to get this procedure done; it had been delayed a couple of times over the summer.

The good news is his surgery itself went well. Dr. Sugarbaker at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston removed the tumor, and half of Dad's right lung. There are clean margins around the tumor, which means it hasn't spread. Dad woke up from the anesthesia alert and asking to eat (always a good sign.)

The hard news is post-surgery Dad has some internal bleeding as a result of scar tissue that built up from his previous lung surgery (this is his third on his lungs, and the second surgery on the right lung; the surgery team called it a "re-do.") Rather than engaging in a second surgery, the post-recovery team put him back under sedation, inserted a breathing tube, all in the hopes of allowing the bleeding to slow by administering stronger painkillers and keeping his blood pressure low.

We were able to see him in post-recovery. While his color looked good, bleeding tapering off, and blood pressure and heart rate normal, he was out cold. The nurses said they are keeping him "snowed," which is probably good for his pain level, but sounds pretty scary to me.

Please keep your fingers crossed. This is an unexpected complication, and a major letdown after the initial good report from the surgeon. My mother is incredibly stressed.

My public (and obnoxious) service announcement: if you smoke, quit. Now. You and your family do NOT want to go through this.

UPDATE: Doris (my mom) called the ICU this morning. Dad had a quiet night, and they are going to try to remove the breathing tube this morning, wake him up, and see how he does. We are heading in this morning to see him.