In Gratitude

Before he went in to theater yesterday, Tinus said to me his biggest fear is waking up with only one lung, so you can perhaps imagine how he felt when he woke up and the doc told him, he's had cancer and they removed half of his lung.

The operation was scheduled for 5pm - they ran late and eventually Tinus went into theater at quarter to seven in the evening.  The next few hours were some of the worst in my life.  Tinus eventually came out of theater at about half past ten. The doctor explained that as soon as they could see the tumor they said it looked like cancer.  They sent a sample to the path lab in the hospital and the result came back - it was cancer!  They have removed the top lobe of his left lung.

But this is not bad - according to the doc, it was 'curative' surgery.  If you can catch lung cancer early enough, you can get rid of it completely!  And according to the doc it should not impact on his quality of life at all.  Earlier in the year Tinus had a lung function test done as part of his aviation medical.  The doctor there said to him if he hasn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it: Tinus' lung capacity was 40% over the  expected capacity for his age group.  This, according to Tinus is because he played trumpet as a youngster.  He's only lost 25% of his lung capacity, so technically he should still be well above average :D

And so I am so grateful that his parents made him play trumpet as a child, and not violin or to the piccolo.  I am so grateful that he's gotten the job offer from Dubai and has decided to accept it.  I am so grateful that the UAE has the x-ray test as part of their immigration policy.  I am so grateful that 'those Egyptians' decided to throw his x-rays out in spite of the fact that it wasn't typical TB scars, I am so grateful that his company suggested he come to South Africa to have it checked out.  I am so grateful that he saw Dr. Janssen who said:"whatever it is, it must come out."  I am so grateful that the doctors took one look at the thing and decided to send it to the path lab straight away, I am so grateful that Dr. Harris took it all out and it is now known and that we can move on from here to complete recovery.  I am so grateful for the ICU staff for taking care of Tinus for the whole night, and for Lana for  taking care of me and all of you for the calls and the messages and the love.

When I saw Tinus this morning he looked loads better than last night - thank you Schalk for preparing me :D After the ICU sister explained to him what they expect of him today he said to her; "sure, whatever you need me to do, I want to be out of here by next week. "  She looked at him for a moment, squinted her eyes and went: "Mmmm . . . . . I think you can do it!"