Loose Pages

Your lungs are made up of five sections called lobes. You have three in your right lung and two in your left. A lobectomy removes one of these lobes. After the surgery, your healthy tissue makes up for the missing section, so your lungs should work as well or better than they did before.

Why Would I Need a Lobectomy?

It’s usually the main treatment for people with the early stages of lung cancer, when there’s a tumor in just one part of the lung. In that case, a lobectomy offers the best chance for a cure and may be the only treatment you need. But it doesn't help when cancer has spread to your whole lung or to other parts of your body. Mine hasn't spread thank God!

The surgery may also help people who have other diseases in one part of their lungs, like:

• Tuberculosis
• Emphysema
• Tumors that aren’t cancer
• Fungal infections
• Pus that fills one area, called an abscess

When you have the damaged lobe removed, other parts of your lungs expand, making it easier to breathe.

What Happens in a Lobectomy?

Doctors can do the surgery in a few different ways. The one that's right for you depends on the type and location of your lung problem as well as your overall health.

• Open surgery, called a thoracotomy. Your surgeon makes a long cut along the side of your chest. He spreads your ribs apart so he can easily see and remove the affected lobe of your lung. They will be removing the upper lobe of my left lung. This is what I will be having.

The surgeon did say that the chest tubes used to drain fluid can be painful :( And noted there are several ways to help with the pain until they are removed. He also said I would probably be in the hospital for a week.