Surgery Tomorrow Morning

Shawn Jr has been struggling breathing.  We had an appointment at the pulmonologist at MD Anderson today.  We expected that fluid was building up around his left lung (from the cancer), like it is around his right lung.   They did an x-ray on Shawn Jr’s chest and, as expected, he accumulated a significant amount of fluid around his left lung.  He was originally scheduled for a pleurodesis surgery on Thursday.  But, because he is really struggling breathing, they wanted to get him in earlier.  Luckily they got a cancellation tomorrow and Shawn Jr is now scheduled for surgery at 6:00 am tomorrow morning.   

They will be doing a pleurodesis - a surgery to stop fluid from building up around the lung. The surgery seals the space between the tissues covering the lung by using sterile talc to make the tissues inflamed so they stick together. As a result of the surgery, there is no space for the fluid to collect.  Shawn Jr will need to drain his lung twice a day for about a week but then the drain can be removed.  

The surgery is apparently painful and there is some risk that the surgery will not work, but we are hopeful that this will be successful and Jr will get some relief.  
 



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