We saw the surgeon, Dr Gundle, again yesterday and got more info about the surgery and recovery. Erik will be his only patient on the 24th so that he can devote as much time as needed to the surgery. It'll be an early start - hospital arrival time: 5:30 - 6:00am!
The surgery will be large, long, and intricate, but if all goes according to plan, Erik will stay in the hospital afterwards for probably 4 or 5 days, then will likely be able to go directly back home with crutches. Dr Gundle thinks it'll only take a few weeks of out-patient rehab to recover, since it's only soft tissue involved in the surgery. There may be some radiation treatment in there somewhere, depending on how the surgery goes, which may or may not add to recovery time.
The next step after recovery, is another CT scan to evaluate the lungs. If the spots haven't grown at all, he may not need to have chemotherapy at this point.
More appointments with medical team members next week in preparation for surgery.
The tumor is getting bigger and hurting him more, and it's affecting his ability to sit, stand, and walk normally. He's anxious to get to surgery and get rid of it!
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I'M STILL FIGURING OUT HOW TO REMOVE THE LINKS BELOW, BUT IN THE MEANTIME
