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English update, for those who refuse to read in dutch (:P)

maart 1st, 2012 | Posted by Re in Pencoaster

Hey there,

As I have many friends and colleges all over the world and pretty close by I thought I would give an update of my current status in English, so let’s get started.

As most of you know I underwent surgery on the 2nd of February to remove this nasty ugly mofo lung tumor from my body. After a month of intens chemo and radiotherapy back in November, which went remarkably well except for a nasty lil cough that has been with me for a few months and has ruined a lot of happy moments/time. In any case, jumping ahead this mofo cough called sergeant cough terrorist is now gone but has left me with at least 8 broken ribs because of the intensity of the coughing.

But anyway, after an 8-hour surgery the lung tumor was successfully removed from my body, taking a third of my right lung and a small unfortunate piece of nerve that it had grown into. This nerve controls the movement of my fingers in my right hand and leaves me with a dull arm and a disfunctional hand. Luckily with so called ergotherapy I can train my hand and either find alternatives or improve hand function. Possibly in 2-3 years other nerves will have taken over the function and my hand may be restored in full (oh well at least I am hoping for that, it is ur one of the reminders of this interesting trip). Another piece that was removed is 4 ribs in my back, right under and above my shoulder blade, they had to remove those since the tumor had grown into them and they just want to be sure that bo residua tumor tissue is left behind. Removal of these ribs and the subsequent replacement with muscles from my lower back and some artificial mesh (Is that how it’s called Dan?) that covers the hole and will provide the needed strenght and protection. In any case, my back and shoulder feel , let’s say, like crazy. It’s like I have a truck on my back, one of those bigass trucks that travel the world. It feels damn heavy and my posture feels like I am crumbling and walking like Gollum. luckily my looks are a bit better. But yeah, of course after this massive surgery and reconstruction of my back we did expect some discomfort and over the next few months I will get some physiotherapy to get everything working properly again.

So I can say I am doing fine, in pain and under lots of painkilling medications, which do take the edge of things but not completely, I sleep a lot and have started walking small distances. I had a small set back last week with splash and dash flu-like symptoms but that went away pretty quickly (lucky me, being nauseous with your chest being completely in pain is no fun), I also have some excessive wound fluids from the surgery that are not being taken up by the body so is kind of collected in a cavity on my back that looks like a big blob on my back. I used to have a drain for that but now probably every other day a doctor will stick a big needle in there and empty it manually.

OK, you know when you have any questions just ask and for now, take care since I will do that anyway :)

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