Today I recieved confirmation for the next procedure. It will take place on Wednesday morning of the 26th and is called a Bronchoscopy.
Cool image from wikipedia
It’s a small procedure. They won’t put me out totally but will make me drowsy and knockout any feeling in my throat.
Then they will put a tube through my vocal cords until the the middle of my lungs. They can see where they are going with an ‘echo head’. With that they can find the exact spot to take the biopsy. This is done by a quick automated shot-like poke of the needle. This procedure won’t have any side effects and after the drowsiness wears off I will be up and running again.
Wikipedia has a great explanition.
In a week or so I will have the results of this biopsy. If it is clear then I am clear and will go into a watchful waiting process. If it is inconclusive they will do and biopsy through an operation (including 2 nights in the hospital). If they find more cancer they will recommend more chemo.
The last two options are the ones I don’t want of course. I’ll take it as it comes. I will check with Dr Einhorn if one of these occurs.
I dont’ have a date set for the result.
If you scan this code with yr mobile phone camera u will be directed to this site
In the mean time Lori will be leaving for the States to get some air plus some mommy and friends time. After this intense summer this is the least she deserves.
I will be busy with lots of things. Like helping out getting QR-codes off the ground. QR-codes are a way of tagging or linking objects. It is a bar code type image like the one here on the left. If you scan it with yr phone camera and reader software it will redirect you to this website. These QRcodes can be put on buidlings or other objects to provide more information via a web link. This is just one applcation. It is the runner up to the Internet of Things and ubiqtious computing.
Also there is the VRM event I am organizing with others this Thursday. It will be my return on stage.
Wauw I love Wiki, this explanes very well what will happen, that must be good to know.
To Lori, I hope you have a good time with your family, we’ll keep an eye on your hubby for you. Give them our love and relax as much as you can.
To Maarten, I will need to get a different phone, mine is only for calling, but there’s a whole new world out there for me to explore.
Love Anita (B)
We will go for the watchfull waiting dr Seuss!
Good to see that you keep busy.
And they are going to make you drink tequila before this procedure? Drowsy, no feeling in your throat? Sounds like it!
Take care,
Bas
No worries, Lens. I swallow the camera every two years or so to make sure my reflux is under control. I’ve done it in Amsterdam and Germany with no anesthesia whatsoever — just uncomfortable, but not painful in anyway. In Hong Kong, they give me some knock-out drops that induce a twilight state — still awake so I can follow their instructions (“OK, here it comes, start swallowing”), but afterwards when I come out of it, I have zero recollection of what happened. It’s like waking up from a total anesthesia. Either way, not too bad. In a way, it reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where he wakes up from the anesthesia at the dentist’s office and sees the dental assisant getting dressed again. What the hell just happened? Hang in there. Thinking of you in HK. Craig
Just checked out the rest of your website. Lens, you continue to amaze the heck out of me. The way that you’ve handled this can be an inspiration to us all. And I’ll close out my comments on this subject with a quotation from that fine movie “Bubba Ho-Tep”: (imagine an older, geriatric Elvis fighting with a bloodthirsty Egyptian bug and saying) “Don’t f*** with the King!” Beat this thing, Lens. Hang in there and say hi to Lori from all of us. And Happy Thanksgiving! Craig
First things first: good luck @VRMevent tomorrow!
On Nov 26, I’ll be hosting a big party at my house here in dc as part of our traditional party before Thanksgiving plan. I’d like to be able to think its just an advance party for specific thanksgiving coming your way… thanks that you have had the energy and good will to share the fight with allof us, thanks that Lori is there to remind you to be strong when you maybe don’t feel it, thanks that you got some doctors willing to mix it up, thanks that you have options and a plan, and hopefully thanks that you finally beat this and get back to some troublemaking!
Hi Maarten,
We duimen voor je! Kom je nog bij ons eten deze week?
Groeten van de buren.
[...] 26, 2008 by Lens-FitzGerald Today i had my bronchoscopy. Lori is in the States and Jos has been my nurse and driver. Because reading books is so boring we [...]
Maarten,
I just found your blog and have been reading all of your posts because my uncle is going through the same procedure next week. Thank you for the wealth of information!