More and More Good News

After 15 showings in 14 days, we accepted one of the 2 offers on our house. The (prospective) buyers want to go to settlement on Oct. 15. We're suddenly in quite a hurry. We've got to find a house to move into SOON!

Fortunately we can stay with our friends in Takoma Park...at least last time I asked about it...until we can settle. But of course this means that we need to get on the ball and put in an offer on a house ASAP. Like maybe on Monday. Tomorrow (Thursday) the buyers' inspectors are arriving here to inspect and to appraise it...I think...anyhow, of course Captain Adorable and I cannot be here (our realtor will be, though!), and of course my car is not completely fixed yet...who knows if it will have enough juice to get to music class and home, then to somewhere to hang out until the inspection is over, and then home again...

Today I went to NCI to meet with the surgeon. :) He said a lot of things that I really liked and some things I did not like. He said that probably, because of my previous lung surgery, my lung is probably stuck to my chest wall. He said they will try to do the surgery with VATS but may have to convert (change) if they cannot easily dissect the lung from the chest wall. If I have VATS (Video Assisted Thorascopic Surgery) ), they make 2-3 small incisions where they can insert the scopes. The recovery time in the hospital is 1-2 days. If they have to convert to a thoracotomy, the recovery in the hospital would be 3-5 days. A thoracotomay is the same surgery I had in Sept. 2007, but this time the incision would be smaller and they'd surgicall break a rib (and actually remove about an inch of it!) to get inside the chest cavity instead of moving the ribs, which is quite painful for the patient. I'd have an epidural for pain, just like last time.All the treatment would take place at NCI. Which I am happy about! It certainly can't be worse than the hellish stay at JHH after my surgery in 2007.

As I have stated before in this blog, treatment at NCI is free. WOW, a government funded, government run health care system that, in my opinion, has saved my life. And I have good health insurance. Yes, I am in favor of public health care. I think everyone deserves the right to see a doctor and a dentist. Goes hand-in-hand with the pursuit of happiness, in my interpretation of our Constitution. But this blog is not about larger issues, just about my journey...my journey which includes navigating our health care system from the perspective of a well educated person with excellent family support and wonderful health insurance. I am someone who is perfectly capable of advocating for myself and if I am not, my husband and other relatives (FIL, sweet MIL, for instance) would certainly be happy to help out in any way they can. I am one of the lucky ones.

The surgeon also said that one of the reasons to do this surgery is to get me off of chemotherapy! He said he thought I might need to do adjuvant chemo (Definition: (AD-joo-vant) Treatment given after the primary treatment to increase the chances of a cure) for a couple of months, but then we'd be done! (The oncologists' opinion may vary from this, but I am not sure at the time I am writing this.) Of course, there is the possiblity that cancer could pop up somewhere else in my body at some later point, but it might not and (as the surgeon said,) "I prefer to be hopeful."

I have been allowing myself to hope a lot this afternoon. My wish to have another baby may yet come true...