Thymectomy Soon

Cathy and I left very early yesterday morning (March 05) for an 8:00 AM surgery consultation with Dr. E.L. at Vanderbilt. He asked a lot of questions, explained the pros and cons of thymectomy, and spent a lot of time with us. We were very impressed. I am scheduled for a transcervical thymectomy April 3. Because I am a large man, he may also need to do an incision in my side to aid in the surgery as needed. Either way, this is much less invasive than fully opening my chest--which he was against. There is considerable medical debate whether this surgery will help or will not help my condition. In my opinion (and my neurologist and surgeon) it is worth the chance.

I was able to have my preoperative exam yesterday and a complete set of pulmonary function tests which Dr. E.L. wanted before my surgery. Getting all of this done in one day saved us another trip back to Vanderbilt.

To prepare my body for surgery and reduce the symptoms of myasthenia gravis, Dr. C.L. (my neurologist) has order five days of plasma exchange just before the thymectomy. It looks like I will be in the hospital over a week. This will be my ninth hospitalization.

On a side note. Just before we reached Nashville, we drove through an area where a heavy ice fog had coated the trees and they glistened liked diamonds. It was beautiful!