@flusshund Thank you for your kind note. Yes, you have really helped in knowing what to expect and what pain meds to insist upon. In other swhos till plays for my own pleasure. I have had a couple of prior surguries--an-ankle fusion and hysterectomy for which morphine always worked well for me and will insist upon it this time as well. I am 68 years old, a retired psychotherapist, but basically a classically trained pianist ill plays for her own enjoyment. T o hear a doctor call me "young" for surgery at this age was delightful! It is indeed helpful to learn about what all you went through and endured--the follow up chemo and radiation and the merciful lack of awful side effects for you. I am so glad your PET/CT scan was clear. No followup appointments for you.! Hooray!

. My surgeon does the Robotic assisted surgery as well as VATS, and for whatever reason chose VATS for me. I will leave his decision of what surgery to do up to him as he knows far more about this than I. Anyway, it is a blessing that it won't be the old fashioned kind of operation here the ribs are spread apart and recovery is so much more complicated. I heard yesterday, at the seminar on surgery, that we lung patients would be in ICU overnight, encouraged to walk once we are out of anesthesia , vitals are good, etc Then we will be moved to a private room to move on in recovery. I figure from that all was said , I'll be in the hospital for about as long as you and am determined do all I can do to help the recovery process. I want to go HOME ASAP! Also the nurses said not to be the strong silent type during recovery, and if we were in pain or needed anything to let them know. They are there to help us have a minimal amount of pain and stress while we all recover from the surgery. I promised todo the breathing exercises, walk, eat the hospital food and follow their dictates to the utmost to speed there recovery process

Can see where the effects of chemo and radiation could be so emotionally draining! However, I'm glad that it went as well for you (side effects and all) so well. I guess such things have truly come a long ay from what used to be. Don't know about you, but From he two surgeries Had before, I found myself more tired than usual. It will probably be so withe his one as well. I normally sleep around severn hours and expect to sleep more than normally once at home. I recall the previous times when it seemed like there was NOT REST during the hospital stays.

The surgical team will know if they got everything and if somehow the cancer spread to any lymph nodes, or surrounding tissue.If such is the case, then we will move on to the chemo and/or radiation. I hope to avoid that as do my doctors. By this time next week, I may well be in a private room and awaiting removal of the chest tube. Having gone through the morning pre-op tests and the seminar on what to expect was truly helpful. More hospitals ought to have this sort of meeting for patients who will be having surgeries and recovery from surgery for cancer. Also being around other cancer patients kind of gave us a feeing of beingl f a band of brothers and sisters untied in a fight against this disease. I was in total denial about realization that I do indeed have cancer--lung cancer.--called it anything but what it is/was until yesterday.

I thank you again for taking the time to share your experiences with me and appreciate all that you had to say. I feel much better thanks to you and your information. Am so glad that things are going well for you now I hope we can keep in touch and know I will be thinking of and praying for your continued recover. So glad to have found this group!