Bill & Pat Boulch

More Good News….

As of noon today the Surgeon determined that Dads quick recovery and clean x-ray from this morning meant that he was ready to have the lung tube removed (The source of most of the major pain Dad was having)

Then He also determined that Dad could have his catheter and a few other extra access tubes removed later today and that means that he will be tube free except for the IV drip and may be headed home as soon as tomorrow. (Saturday)

Because the lung drain has been removed, Dad is feeling much better and a big portion of the pain is gone.

He Still has the IV with the “Happy Button” that he can use every 12 minutes!

We are still waiting on the lab results and should know by 5:00pm if we need to wait until Monday for the final results.

Over all Dad is feeling much better and in good spirits, you can tell because hes giving the hospital staff a dose of his unique humor 🙂

More updates soon when we get lab results and a final release date.

Check the upper right hand corner for both Mom and Dads contact info for calls and text messages for well wishes!

Thanks for all your prayers, they seem to be working!

Scott

From: Scott Boulch

7/19/12 11:12pm

Re: Surgery results for Dad’s Operation Wednesday.

For those of you that were not aware, my Dad Bill had surgery Wednesday to remove a mass in his lower right lung that turned out to be malignant.

The Surgery to remove the “Lump” in the lower right lobe went well.

The original plan was to remove the lump and the lower lobe of the lung to be sure it was stopped in its tracks if it was in fact malignant.

Unfortunately while preparing to remove the lower lobe the skilled surgeon found a pea sized abnormal lump in a totally unrelated area and lobe of the right lung.

While much smaller, It also proved to be a malignant.

The surgeon in consultation with the lung doc, made the decision not to remove any of the three lobes of the right lung rather to remove wide sections of the two cancers in both locations and wait for full lab reports instead of the immediate frozen sections that don’t tell the whole story.

Then they then looked extensively at all areas of the right lung and found no evidence of any other cancer and no spreading of the cancer to any of the lymph nodes.

The earlier biopsy of the upper lymph nodes (The Operation from two weeks ago) also proved negative for any cancer cells from both the frozen sections (immediate) and full labs so we are fairly sure it has not spread.

As far as the cancers that have now been surgically removed the final lab results may be in Friday afternoon and if not we are forced to wait until Monday afternoon as pathology doesn’t work on weekends.

Once we have the final results of the biopsy we can determine what kind of cells they are.

Now The Good News!

It’s the opinion of the Pulmonologist (lung doc) as well as one of his key Oncologists (Cancer Doc) that we met today that its a cancer that originated in the lung!

This (believe it or not) is good news because that means that the cancers in the right lobe have now been removed surgically including clean wide margins (verified by frozen sections) and that the follow up Chemotherapy will be a cleanup mission  and not a cancer fight in the traditional sense.

The cancer appears to be “New” less than 6 months old and according to best guess originating in the lower right lobe.

Both the Lung and Cancer Doc are very optimistic for a full recovery after a round of Chemo.

Now that the cancer is physically removed the concern will be to kill off any stray cells that may be floating around but not yet formed in to cancer clusters as well as preventing them from growing into cancers in the future.

Tomorrow or Monday we will have the full lab reports back telling us what kind of cancer cells we are dealing with, where they originated and how best to treat them with Chemo and some possible radiation.

Dad is doing well as far as recovery from this very painful operation… his third major operation in less than 8 weeks, but its a battle to manage the pain, nausea from the pain meds, weakness and physical drain on his system so recovery is not by any means easy…

Pray for the labs to come back soon, hopefully tomorrow (Friday) and that they indicate slow growing, cells that have originated and that have now been cleanly removed from the lungs.

Then in a few weeks we can tackle the Chemo, and work towards a full recovery.

I will attempt to communicate with everyone who is not an immediate family member or close friends of Dad on any issues that do not involve Dad’s condition in order and as time permits.

Until then… Say a prayer for Dads quick recovery from the operation!

Prayers and well wishes can be sent to Dad at bill@billandpat.com or Mom at pboulch@msn.com or by cell phone (Text or Call) to Dad at: 972-567-9530

Scott Boulch
7/19/12 11:12 pm