Press Forward

Another trip to Penn in Philly today for more information. Today I met with a thoracic surgeon and pulmonary oncologist. The purpose was to discuss the thymoma and the consensus appeared to be - remove it. One of the major reasons, of course, is that thymomas are slow growing tumors. Whether malignant or benign, there is no denying it will grow back/continue to grow, at whatever pace, and I could later run the risk of it growing too large or spreading in that area. And then of course there is the myasthenia gravis. While the surgery does not offer me a 100% chance of a cure, it can offer some hope of either a cure (30%) or a lessening of symptoms and less need for lifelong medications ((30%). I know those odds don't look fantastic, I wouldn't make a basketball bracket out of those odds (!) but they are still a chance to get better. The encouraging news was the surgical approach, as the thoracic surgeon described a robot-assisted, less invasive surgery. It's still very complex (I made the mistake of looking it up!) and would require me to stay in the hospital for two days, but it's far more amenable than the sternotomy (cutting my chest open!). 

It's a lot to take in, but I have to press forward somehow. These are huge decisions I was hoping to avoid but I've been pressed against a wall and need to move from where I am to a better place. I have one more important appointment in three weeks with a neurologist at Penn who specializes in MG. More to come. 

After back to back appointments, we finally got to eat our packed lunch! Yum!