There are certain words in the English language that you never dream of being a part of your every day life—words such as thoracentesis, computed tomography or, how about this one,胸膜外肺切除术- 简而言之。当我被诊断出患时，所有这些单词成为我每天词汇的一部分恶性胸膜间皮瘤万博专业版in 2005. We heard the word cancer first. Then mesothelioma. And finally the words extrapleural pneumonectomy.
EPP是一种用于治疗胸膜间皮瘤的急剧外科手术。万博专业版该过程涉及去除受影响的肺以及胸部的衬里（胸膜），心脏覆盖的部分（心包）和膜片。
当我被给予间皮瘤的诊断万博专业版, I was given the choice to have thissurgery—a means to延长或可能挽救我的生命和摆脱癌症。我下定决心居st go for it.
So many people ask me what it was like to lose a lung, many are people who have been diagnosed and are facing this very same surgery. I will tell you about my experience, in hopes that it will help someone in the same position and help their loved ones understand more of what to expect.
我在医院手术前的一整天晚上为手术做准备，这是我的手术。我必须喝Go Lytely™的可爱混合物 - 人们在结肠镜之前喝的同样的东西。好吧，我在这里告诉你，没有什么“ lyly”的。它可以在记录时间内清理您的系统。在鸡尾酒的效果过夜之后，我终于在凌晨3:00左右入睡。我在5:30被醒来，被送往前舞台前舞台。我的神经踢到了高齿轮上。我尽力与护士们一起勇敢和开玩笑，但是在我面前所阐明的事情的严肃性是对我的。
Plus, I was alone. Cameron had not made it in yet. I kept watching the door for him. It was as if he felt my anxiety because when I looked at the door, he came through it the exact time. I started crying tears of relief that he was there with me. He swept into the pre-op ward, backpack in tow, ready to camp out at the hospital for however long he needed to be there. He whipped out his camera, much to my dismay, and started taking pictures. At the time, I was not happy about it. But, after the fact, I am glad he got pictures to document it. The anesthetist came over shortly and gave me some wonderful drug that took every bit of anxiety in the world away and brought me to my happy place. Before long, I was being wheeled to the O.R. I vaguely remember going through some double doors into the room and it being cold. I made mention of that to the orderly and then I was out.
在接下来的8个小时中，我处于幸福状态。不幸的是，我不能为我的丈夫说同样的话。他独自在家庭休息室里等待着更新。大约在手术的一半David Sugarbaker博士出来并与他交谈，告诉他一切都很好。他们开始了加热化疗洗涤and, after that, would replace my diaphragm and pericardium with gore-tex. They would then sew me up and send me off to recovery. He breathed a huge sigh of relief and called everyone to tell them the news. A couple of hours later, I came to as they were pulling the intubation tube out of my throat—I was breathing on my own with one lung. I did it! I made it through! I was wheeled into recovery to wait for a bed in the ICU.
I was very groggy and vaguely aware of a lot of tubes and IVs. I was THIRSTY! Terribly, terribly thirsty. I was not allowed to drink anything, but I was given a sponge soaked in ice water. I asked the nurse every 5 minutes for that sponge. I also had a ringing sensation in my ears that wasn’t there before—I found out that theCisplatin, that they use for the heated chemo causes tinnitus. I spent the rest of the day in that recovery room, watching people coming and going—waiting, waiting, waiting and my wonderful nurse never left my side. Even when her shift was supposed to be over, she stayed with me until I got sent to the ICU. Finally, at about midnight, a bed opened up in the ICU, and I was taken up. My poor husband had been up since 6 o’clock that morning, and never left my side.
将所有监视器，IV和鼻胃管连接起来花了更长的时间。我从我身上传出的管超出了我的想象。我有一个胸管，NG管，另一个排水管在我的胸部，导管，然后在那里4或5 IV线的地方 - 每天提供不同的药物或用于血液抽水。
Thedoctors不要四处乱逛。他们希望您起床并尽快移动。第一个晚上之后，他们让我从床上挥舞着我的腿“悬挂”。然后他们让我起身坐在椅子上。每天他们都会检查胸管，几天后它们被拆除。第三天后，除去鼻腔管。耶！我现在可以吃液体饮食！我还在walker的帮助下每天站起来几次ICU，该步行器握着氧气罐（我仍在使用）和所有IVS。我终于足够好，可以搬到踩踏单元。
在这段时间里，我没有太多痛苦。我用泵保持在上面。当我搬到船上的单元，最终我的房间时，我能够口服止痛药，而不再在泵上服用止痛药。我慢慢地得到了食欲，在与肾脏遇到轻微的挫折之后，我开始感觉很好，考虑到所有情况。某些事情的想法令人生畏 - 我如何成为我的孩子的父母？我可以接她并抱住她吗？我可以花园吗？我会像以前一样活跃吗？我可以在12周内重新上班（这让我发笑）吗？当我终于从医院出院并送回家时，我很高兴，但也很紧张。 I was responsible for myself now. I was surprised at how much I slept, but soon realized healing is work. I was like a baby after getting out of the hospital—I would wake up, have breakfast, and take a nap. Wake up, eat lunch, do something, take a nap. Wake up, eat dinner, watch TV, visit, read, then go to bed. All the while, I was trying to stay on top of the pain and manage it along with the other medication I was on. Before long, I got the go ahead to leave Boston.
我现在正在开始新的生活。当我回头看时，我对此并不记得太多了。我所知道的是，我是EPP的成功故事。Sugarbaker博士经常要求我与其他患者谈论我的经历，我总而言之，这还不错。我希望我希望做更多的事情 - 例如步行，更多的运动和物理疗法，但是这些都是我现在尝试做的事情。尽管有一个肺，但我过着充实的生活。EPP从字面上给我留下了难以置信的印记。我从左乳房下方走的切口，围绕着肩膀的肩膀旁边。我称之为我的战伤，我为此感到自豪。我与所有人一起打了万博专业版间皮瘤。 I sacrificed my lung so I could live a long full life. Was it worth it? Hell yes. I make my life full of quality experiences, despite the pain and the limitations. It is my choice and I chose joy.
