Wallace Payne

Hello to everyone and thank you for visiting me. Well, some or all of you might know that the story initially begins with a 1.6 cm nodule on the middle lobe of my right lung as a result from an x-ray taken at urgent care back on July 3rd . Originally, I was there for an ear ache and nothing else....but to my surprise, Julia, my pet gopher, really gave the urgent care doc an earful (no pun intended) of symptoms of which I had no intentions or real reasons to bring up during that visit. Well, folks... I can tell you this nodule became an overnight sensation when my follow up PET scan showed this nodule metabolically lit up brighter than the North star; therefore brings me to the present day facing a surgical procedure consisting of a biopsy of that nodule as well as my lymph nodes this Thursday, 17th at 9am. The surgery will be at Missouri Baptist and Dr. Hon C. Suen will be the surgeon. He tells me a 95% chance it's a duck, since it's quacking and maybe even looking like one, so if the pathologist dictates the biopsy to follow with a wedge resection or an even further aggressive surgical procedure called, a lung lobectomy, which involves removing the middle lobe of my right lung. We all have three lobes on the right and two on the left. The GREAT news: My full pulmonary function w/6 min walk study test resulted with much lung function as well as more than enough lung capacity for the surgeon to successfully perform this lobectomy, if need be. So what's the BAD news, you ask?? The bad would be the pathologist's results warranting the need for removal of that middle lobe section on my lung...though it's only bad because while it is performed with a video assisted thoracoscopy surgery, VATS for short. (a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery procedure involving a tiny camera (thoracoscope) and surgical instruments which are inserted into your chest through small incisions in your chest wall. The thoracoscope transmits images of the inside of your chest onto a video monitor, guiding the surgeon in performing the procedure.) I hear it's the recovery that makes it bad. I learned yesterday that chest tubes are painful despite the anesthesia during first few days...no fun.

So, here's my plan....I will just sleep it off and if that doesn't work, then I will hold my breath till the chest tubes are out from my lung and between my ribs. Did you know these tubes are taken out as soon as my lung quits leaking air, so all I have to do is hold my breath and out they go!!! lol See, my plan should work and hopefully I can convince my doc that I'm ready to be active, rambunctious and be the stubborn rebel that others tell me I am. Guess I'll bring out that stubbornness and come out of this as one lucky shiny star.... shining on the outside with NO NEED to shine on the inside. So, see you on the red carpet! Stay tuned for updates....yes, my gopher will be sure to keep you posted daily as to my progress, she's "in the know." Much love to all and thank you for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes!








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