Tuesday, June 2nd “Surgery Day”
Surgery Objective:
To remove 3 tumors and enough of the lung to extract “t-cells” also called lymphocytes, and successfully grow them outside of the body. Lymphocytes attack the tumors and try to destroy them but can’t do it in such small numbers. The institute is going to grow them by the thousands and when I start chemo/radiation/interleukin, they will infuse my body with these cells hoping to destroy the cancer. This surgery has been described as invasive as open heart surgery, and the recovery takes months.
Tuesday, June 2nd “Surgery Day”
My surgery took approximately 5 hours and they were able to successfully remove 3 tumors and a small portion of the lung. I woke up heavily sedated and remember only bits and pieces of this day. I spent the night in the ICU and they woke me up each hour to check my vitals. It was all pretty foggy for 24 hours.
