Dear ASPS Community Friends,
Brittany underwent a three hour RFA at The University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Hospital for two of her lung mets in her left lung on Wednesday, January 9th. The procedure went well with the doctor feeling that he "got a good burn" on the tumors. Brittany did experience the collapse of her lung during the surgery ( somewhat common when ablating more than one tumor), but it was successfully reinflated with a catheter placed in her lung. She spent Wednesday night in the hospital, the catheter was removed, and then she was discharged yesterday (Thursday). She experienced some post op discomfort in her lung area and referred pain in her shoulder from the procedure, but otherwise her recovery has been very good and quite fast. She is now scheduled for another RFA next Wednesday to ablate three tumors in her right lung. I will try to update this forum following her surgery. In the meantime, please take care everyone, and know how deeply appreciative we are of all of your special strengthening support and caring.
With special caring thoughts and continued Hope,
Bonni
RFA/Brittany
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Bonni Hess
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1677
- Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:32 pm
- Location: Sammamish, WA USA
Bonni - thank you very much for keeping us up to date. I was thinking about Brittany going trough this very important step every day recently as I knew that it is about to be done. Winter is a tricky time for surgeries and other invasive treatments as there is a lot of infection and it is very easy to get a cold. I have heard about the lung collapse during the procedure being a very often complication, it is good that it inflated fast...
I have a few question reg. the procedure - what was the size and the location of the ablated nodules, was it done under the CT guidance?
I have a few question reg. the procedure - what was the size and the location of the ablated nodules, was it done under the CT guidance?
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Bonni Hess
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1677
- Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:32 pm
- Location: Sammamish, WA USA
Dear Olga,
Thank you for your very kind and caring thoughts. Brittany is continuing to recover amazingly well from the RFA procedure, except she is easily winded from very much walking, which with her usual boundless energy and incredible stamina was never a problem prior to the surgery. We think that this is just a normal post op side effect and that this will improve and be completely resolved as her lung heals from the ablation. Regarding your questions about her RFA procedure, both of the treated mets were about a centimeter each, and at least one of them was located quite deep in her left lung. The RFA was done with CT guidance. We have only had the opportunity to speak briefly with the doctor immediately following the surgery, so Hopefully we will have more specific details to share after our next meeting with him. We have somewhat limited computer access here at our Hospital Family Housing, but I will keep this forum updated as I am able.
With special caring thoughts and continued Hope,
Bonni
Thank you for your very kind and caring thoughts. Brittany is continuing to recover amazingly well from the RFA procedure, except she is easily winded from very much walking, which with her usual boundless energy and incredible stamina was never a problem prior to the surgery. We think that this is just a normal post op side effect and that this will improve and be completely resolved as her lung heals from the ablation. Regarding your questions about her RFA procedure, both of the treated mets were about a centimeter each, and at least one of them was located quite deep in her left lung. The RFA was done with CT guidance. We have only had the opportunity to speak briefly with the doctor immediately following the surgery, so Hopefully we will have more specific details to share after our next meeting with him. We have somewhat limited computer access here at our Hospital Family Housing, but I will keep this forum updated as I am able.
With special caring thoughts and continued Hope,
Bonni
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Fictional
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Bonni Hess
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1677
- Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:32 pm
- Location: Sammamish, WA USA
Dear ASPS Community Friends,
Brittany underwent her second lung RFA in a week on Wednesday. This time three tumors in her right lung were successfully treated, and Hopefully destroyed. The surgeon said that the procedure went very well, and that a "good burn" was achieved to all three of the tumors which were all about a centimeter in size. Not unexpectedly, her lung again collapsed during surgery but was able to be successfully re-inflated with placement of a catheter into her lung. Brittany was discharged from the hospital yesterday, although she is experiencing more pain, nausea, and weakness from this surgery than from the first one, which is probably the result of having two surgeries in a week and having more tumors treated in this procedure. This is Brittany's fourteenth surgical procedure since her six and a half year ASPS battle began, and she continues to amaze and inspire all of us with her continued incredible positive attitude and immense courage and strength despite all of the pain and suffering that she has experienced and so bravely endured. She will continue her recovery here in Pittsburgh at our Hospital Family Housing, and then on Tuesday she will have another post op X-ray and we will meet with her surgeon. If her recovery goes well and everything looks good, we will fly Home to Washington on Tuesday night with Hopefully five of Brittany's lung tumors now dead. She will have a brain MRI in February. I will keep this Forum updated, and we will continue to aggressively search, research, and network for information on an effective systemic treatment and cure for this very challenging disease. Please take care everyone and keep in touch with the Web site as you are able.
With special caring thoughts and continued Hope,
Bonni
Brittany underwent her second lung RFA in a week on Wednesday. This time three tumors in her right lung were successfully treated, and Hopefully destroyed. The surgeon said that the procedure went very well, and that a "good burn" was achieved to all three of the tumors which were all about a centimeter in size. Not unexpectedly, her lung again collapsed during surgery but was able to be successfully re-inflated with placement of a catheter into her lung. Brittany was discharged from the hospital yesterday, although she is experiencing more pain, nausea, and weakness from this surgery than from the first one, which is probably the result of having two surgeries in a week and having more tumors treated in this procedure. This is Brittany's fourteenth surgical procedure since her six and a half year ASPS battle began, and she continues to amaze and inspire all of us with her continued incredible positive attitude and immense courage and strength despite all of the pain and suffering that she has experienced and so bravely endured. She will continue her recovery here in Pittsburgh at our Hospital Family Housing, and then on Tuesday she will have another post op X-ray and we will meet with her surgeon. If her recovery goes well and everything looks good, we will fly Home to Washington on Tuesday night with Hopefully five of Brittany's lung tumors now dead. She will have a brain MRI in February. I will keep this Forum updated, and we will continue to aggressively search, research, and network for information on an effective systemic treatment and cure for this very challenging disease. Please take care everyone and keep in touch with the Web site as you are able.
With special caring thoughts and continued Hope,
Bonni
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Bonni Hess
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1677
- Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:32 pm
- Location: Sammamish, WA USA
Dear ASPS Community Friends,
I'm sorry to be so slow in updating the final outcome of Brittany's RFA procedures, but I have had only very limited computer access during the past several weeks. Unfortunately, the day that we were scheduled to fly back to Seattle from Pittsburgh, Brittany's final post op chest X-ray showed that her right lung had collapsed, which explained all of the post op problems that she had been experiencing with lung pain, nausea, and shortness of breath. She needed to be hospitalized immediately to have a pigtail catheter inserted into her lung to reinflate it. She was kept in the hospital for a week, and then she was discharged with a small area of pneumothorax still remaining. Fortunately, that has now been totally resolved, she has regained her usual boundless energy, and she seems to be feeling good. Because of the danger of another pneumothorax, she was not allowed to fly for 6-8 weeks, so we returned to Seattle on a VERY long train ride. The doctors feel confident, and we are very Hopeful, that the two RFA procedures were successful in destroying the five treated lung mets. We are holding tight to Hope that this will be confirmed when she has her next chest CT which will be scheduled in six months barring the development of any new symptoms or problems. Thankfully, we received GOOD NEWS results on Brittany's three month brain MRI last Wednesday, and I will update those results on the Personal Updates section of this forum. Please take care dear friends, have a beautiful Springtime, and try to keep the Web site updated as your time and situation allow.
With special caring thoughts and continued Hope,
Bonni
I'm sorry to be so slow in updating the final outcome of Brittany's RFA procedures, but I have had only very limited computer access during the past several weeks. Unfortunately, the day that we were scheduled to fly back to Seattle from Pittsburgh, Brittany's final post op chest X-ray showed that her right lung had collapsed, which explained all of the post op problems that she had been experiencing with lung pain, nausea, and shortness of breath. She needed to be hospitalized immediately to have a pigtail catheter inserted into her lung to reinflate it. She was kept in the hospital for a week, and then she was discharged with a small area of pneumothorax still remaining. Fortunately, that has now been totally resolved, she has regained her usual boundless energy, and she seems to be feeling good. Because of the danger of another pneumothorax, she was not allowed to fly for 6-8 weeks, so we returned to Seattle on a VERY long train ride. The doctors feel confident, and we are very Hopeful, that the two RFA procedures were successful in destroying the five treated lung mets. We are holding tight to Hope that this will be confirmed when she has her next chest CT which will be scheduled in six months barring the development of any new symptoms or problems. Thankfully, we received GOOD NEWS results on Brittany's three month brain MRI last Wednesday, and I will update those results on the Personal Updates section of this forum. Please take care dear friends, have a beautiful Springtime, and try to keep the Web site updated as your time and situation allow.
With special caring thoughts and continued Hope,
Bonni
Re: RFA/Brittany
Hmm that's a real shame that she had to have that 3rd pneumothorax. In my opinion, the reason for that is the fact that they pull the tube so early in the US to keep the costs down. Good for them, not good for the patient. 