You'll notice that between my brother and I, we will tend to joke around a lot, but the truth of the matter is that this is a very serious situation.
A few months ago, Corey left work early with that all too familiar crushing pain in his chest. The next day he found himself in the hospital listening to the doctor give him the "Wow, you should've been dead yesterday" speech. With pneumonia and a collapsed lung, he was told at age 30, that it was time for him to look into getting disability and getting out of the Plumbing and Pipefitters trade altogether.
Not really something a young, energetic, vibrant 30 year old wants to hear, so he decided to look into vocational rehab and get trained in CAD. With his years of experience on the field and a certification in CAD, he was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. A new opportunity.
During this process, he established himself with a new set of Dr's who wanted to give him a full examination to find out what was really going on with his lungs.
This is when they found that his left lung was 100% infected with essentially ZERO air pockets. Already collapsed. His right lung looked pretty good, only showing small signs of Bronchiectasis. It was decided at this time, that it was imperative to remove the Left lung in order to save his right from the possibility of the infection spreading.
Typically a surgery like this would last around 2 hours. If you are interested in the details of this surgery the medical term is Pneumectomy. (click for details) .
In Corey's case, being that the lung is so badly damaged and collapsed....his heart and other organs have already shifted to the left side that this will be a more complicated surgery and it is more than likely going to be closer to a 5 hour surgery. I will be documenting and keeping you posted every step of the way. He will most likely spend about a week in the hospital and it will be about 6 to 8 weeks recovery time.
That being said, it is expected that once he has fully recovered, he could very well live a normal life.
As I learn more details I will keep you posted....and I do apologize for this very serious post....it can't be all fun and games all the time ya know! ;)
Corey will be learning the blogging ropes shortly and you will be hearing from him soon......
I will leave you with this quote from my favorite author...that we are learning to be more than true in our family....
There Are No Ordinary Moments....
-Dan Millman
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