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Carolyn's story began on August 21st with an auto accident in her driveway where she ended up in the trauma center at Akron City Hospital. All tests confirmed there were no broken bones, no concussion and stitches were not necessary. She had facial lacerations, road rash and lots of bruising. To say the least, it could have been much worse had a very new neighbor not jumped in to help.
As we were waiting for the staff to come in to clean out the wounds and begin to prepare discharge papers, the doctor returned to discuss the results of her CT scan. "A medium size mass was found in her left lung." I will never forget those words and will probably never remember them either; it seemed so surreal.
This brings us to where Carolyn is today. With numerous tests and appointments, Carolyn received a diagnosis on October 9th of a Neuroendocrine cancerous tumor located in the hilium section of the left lung. A second confirmation of the diagnosis was also confirmed on October 25th by Dr. Philip Linden , Chief , Division of Thoracic and Esophageal Surgery Surgical Director, Thoracic Oncology Program of University Hospitals.
On Tuesday, October 31st, Carolyn is scheduled for surgery at University Hospital at 6am for a lobectomy (remove the lobe where the tumor is located) or a pneumonectomy (removal of the entire lung). The surgery will begin with biopsies of the lymph nodes in the chest wall to determine if the cancer has spread. This will take approximately 1 hour. If it has spread, the surgery will be cancelled and chemotherapy and radiation program will be recommended.
If there are no signs of cancer in the lymph nodes, the surgery will proceed to the lobectomy or pneumonectomy procedure which will take 3-5 hours. She will remain in the hospital for 3-5 days and the total recuperation time is approximately 4 weeks.
Carolyn is my mom, my best-friend and loved by so many other family and friends. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers on Tuesday for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.
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