Lung Cancer [Hospitalization & Surgery Part 2] | First Day of Hospitalization - Explanation from the Surgeon - 2026.1.20 (Tue)

When I entered the consultation room, I met a young doctor for the first time. That said, I had already looked through the doctor profiles on the hospital's website, so I felt like, 'Oh, it's this doctor.'
True to their emphasis on team medicine, they follow a format for the thoracic surgery pre-operative explanation, so I think the content and quality would be the same regardless of who explains it.

My biggest concern is the final resection range, so I confirmed it again.
In the previous policy explanation on 1/6, it was decided that a segmentectomy of the lower lobe S6 where the lesion is located would be performed, and whether the adjacent upper lobe S2 would be a segmentectomy or a partial resection was yet to be determined.
They said they would simulate it using 3D-CT from the contrast-enhanced CT and explain it before the surgery.

The document says 'Right lower lobe segmentectomy + upper lobesegmentectomy'.
When I asked, 'Is the upper lobe S2 also decided to be a segmentectomy?', they started by saying, 'The document is written to cover more possibilities...', and explained it on the spot using the CT images.
The lesion is located deep from the right side where the incision will be made, and it is close to the thick bronchi.
Also, although the lesion is mainly in the lower lobe 6S, it also extends to the upper lobe S2, so the difficulty is a bit high because the resection will span across the interlobar fissure.
As explained from the beginning, they want to preserve the lung as much as possible while keeping a firm distance from the lesion to prevent recurrence, so they will make the decision during the surgery.
That is what they said.

"Functional preservation" I was relieved to know that this is their basic approach. The policy of 'total lower lobe resection' at the municipal hospital before my transfer has become a bit of a trauma.

My surgery tomorrow is in the second turn, scheduled to enter the operating room at 11:30 am. The surgery time is about 3-5 hours.
I thought it would be the first thing in the morning at 9 o'clock, so I thought, 'I'll be fasting from the morning, and waiting until that time will make me hungry and nervous,' but I kept that to myself.

Next was the explanation of lymph node dissection, surgical risks, and post-operative complications.
Among the various complications, 'interstitial pneumonia' is scary, but in my case, the risk seems low.
What was impressive was the post-operative "delirium". It is a consciousness disorder where the brain gets confused, and they said, 'Sometimes there are people who get violent after surgery, but perhaps because the anesthesiologist is exquisitely skilled, I have never seen that in this hospital.'
I definitely don't want to get violent, so that's a relief.

I asked many questions even at this late stage, but they answered them carefully.

Finally, I asked two frank questions.
When I asked, 'Looking at it (my CT and test results), do you think it's cancer?', I gave a wry smile at their honest, objective-lacking answer: 'The experienced internal medicine and surgery doctors in our internal conference say that it is highly likely.'
Also, when I asked, 'Are you the main surgeon?', they gave the usual immediate, rubber-stamped answer, 'No, the whole team will do it!', which made me give another wry smile.

I wanted to retort, 'Doctor, on the internal document you are looking at casually in your hand, there are three doctors with circles next to their names, and main/sub numbers are written there (the text is too small for me to read who they are).'
But I swallowed it, thinking that anything more would be 'tacky' or 'ignorance is bliss'.

In the end, we talked for about 40 minutes, and I signed the 'Surgery Explanation/Consent Form'.

When I returned to my hospital room, it was already noon. It was the expected "The hospital meal"...
I immediately changed into my pajamas and gobbled it up.

To be continued