lobectomy

I am so scared. I hope someone who has experienced this will take the time to answer. My 70 yr old healthy mom (very active & healthy non smoker, till Oct 08 when she developed breast cancer -no family cancer history at all!) was discovered to have a cancerous lung tumor. Its primary, didnt metatasize from the breast, so its operable. Thats why im so very scared. She has surgery scheduled for Wednesday. 2 days from now. Her tumor is small, and its the only one they are pretty sure. I dont know the measurement, but its roughly the size of a peanut.
Shes terrified...we all are. The surgeon listed the risks..my god...we didnt know what to think..what to say.
Can anyone share experiences (hopefully good ones) with this type of situation? We dont even know what to expect at ALL...how much pain? Can she breathe easily? The Dr said he would have to take a lobe from the left lung. What does that MEAN? Are there people out there that have had this done, and are now fine??
Thank you for any info....

[julieben]

How is your mother doing?

Julie in SoCalif

[calamfred]

Hi,
First off I want to tell you I hope and pray all goes well with your mom and you...My mom had to have the 2 lower lobes of her right lung removed due to non small cell lung cancer a little over 5 years ago. If you are interested, I posted a pretty long answer to the question "need help post thoracotomy pain syndrome" by bea89 over on the cancer forum that details some of my mom's and my history with this "beast" called lung cancer. I hope it is helpful to you. I also want to say I totally know how you feel, I try never to say that...as I know we can never know how someone else feels...but in this case I think I have a pretty good grasp of it...my mom was 64 at the time of the surgery and will be 70 this August...I will say her surgeon told us her surgery was one of the "toughest resections I have ever done". And I have to add that my Mom is one of the "toughest ladies" I have ever known...I stayed night and day with her thru it all...slept in the ICU waiting room until she got a room, and then took the other bed in that room... For everyone each surgery/recovery is different, in Mom's case, she spent about 3 days in ICU, and then 2 weeks in the hospital...for her surgery, she had 2 chest tubes in and yes she was able to breathe. When I first saw her after the surgery, she was not still on the vent tube, but was on regular oxygen with a nasal canula. If I can help you please let me know. There is hope...there is life...
Prayers,
C

[calamfred]

Just noticed the date on the original post...I guess the old "brain fog" has me again...anyways, I hope all went well with your mom...and that all is well today...
C