Presently, I'm recovering from a surgery called pleurodesis. My surgery was on May 5th, 2023 in Mass General Hospital, Boston. This is a procedure where the surgeon sprays a chemical substance that makes the lung stick to the chest wall. Had to do the surgery to fix collapsed right lung.
I was admitted in the hospital on April 17th, 2023 for a few days coz of severe chest pain. It was diagnosed as large pleural effusion(fluid buildup between the lung and chest wall). Bcoz of this my lung space had reduced. I could hardly breathe and talk. Stayed in the hospital for a few days to drain the fluid. They drained about 1.75 liter of fluid.....that's like 3/4 of a 2 liter coke bottle. After a few week, they are removed another 900ml of fluid. The fluid is getting build up because of the cancel cells. The Ovarian cancer cells and some other cancer cells leak fluid through their cell wall. After they drained the fluid they also sent it for pathological testing. They found malignancy in it and that shows disease progression.
The next steps is to either do another chemotherapy or to enroll in a clinical trial. One of the conditions to be eligible for clinical trial is that I need to fix the pleural effusion. To do that the options were either to do the surgery or to do a procedure to install a PleurX catheter. The second option was the easiest option for the moment but I would have a catheter hanging from my chest always and every two to three days I would need to attach a special suction bottle to the catheter to drain the fluid. When I looked at the video for the second option it seems more cumbersome option for the long run.
The surgery was extremely painful. During the surgery they also attach a catheter to drain t
he fluid till the lung expands and the whole process starts working. The catheter was attached to a suction machine that drains fluid 24/7. It was so painful that I could barely talk or use my hands. I couldn't even lift a mobile, forget about lifting I couldn't even swipe my finger. I had an awesome view of the outside but I was so wasted that I could barely keep my eyes open. By Monday May 7th, things started to get better after they removed the catheter. I was discharged from the hospital. Still recovering from all the pain and fatigue. I'm getting better and better day by day.
I have a CT scan tomorrow May 14th and an oncologist appointment on 18th. Will know about my treatment options then. Need lots of prayers at this point 🙏
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