Cancer Watch Day 7

Well my mom is still in the hospital 7 days after her mastectomy and it doesn't look like she is getting out of the hospital today. We left off with her having a second chest tube plugged in which still didn't work so they did a bronchoscopy to clean out her lungs of all the fluid and mucus. Once the doctors did that her lungs were clean and she was breathing clear. However the doctors wanted to keep the chest tube in until her lung not only re inflated but also completely healed. This made her very uncomfortable and it is a painful experience. Imagine a garden hose in your ribs poking your lungs. She explained it as a knife stabbing her in the front and the back. She is on pain meds but those can only do so much. Then her tube got a kink in it and that set her back another day. So in short an outpatient procedure has turned into a week long hospital stay. The good news is her mastectomy is looking great. Healing really well and she is able to walk around and move a bit. The hospital stay is also encouraging her quit smoking goal as she has not smoked for 7 days using a patch to help her get over her nicotine cravings. Yeah mom!