Update On My Awesome Dad

I have posted a few times early on when my dad was first diagnosed.

Dad was diagnosed last fall with T3N0M0. They didn't really stage it at that point. The course was to to pre-surgery treatments to shrink the tumor. He did a month or so of chemo, the tumor had definitely shrunk. After another month of chemo and 28 daily radiation treatments... the cancer is gone! So excited!

The doctors at MSKCC still want him to have the surgery. You never know if it's really all gone, they want a clean slate, etc. At first we thought, if he feels GREAT and it's gone, then why bother? But, we realize that these doctors are the best and we should follow their orders.

Dad's surgery is early next week - please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! He is being so positive about the whole thing, but of course I am a nervous wreck!

Love, Hope

Well, it's been 10 days now since the surgery and Dad is getting sprung tomorrow. There were no complications to really speak of. Only thing is that he has to take the oxygen home for a week to use while walking.

Pathology reports are back now, all clean. They took out a ton of nodes, some tissue from his lung that turned out to be nothing, and the piece of esoph where the tumor originally was... all gone!

I am so relieved. I hope my dad will have a good recovery.

Can anyone shed some light on lung capacity/shortness of breathe after surgery?