On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 1:03 PM,
Dr. Lisa Earle wrote:

...sharing...



-------Original Message-------
From: Steve Hirschhorn
Date: 3/17/2010 11:35:05 AM
Subject: an update

Dear all
please forgive this 'mass mail' but I don't yet have the energy to mail everyone...

we are now back in Auburn, Alabama after our friends drove 6 hrs each way to pick us up and bring us 'home'.
I have managed to get web access here so I should be able to start a gentle regime of checking my mails and getting back to people.

I now have a clearer picture of what happened, though not necessarily why it happened.
Here's a brief description:
As we left Auburn for the short flight down to New Orleans, I felt a tightness in my chest - not so unusual but it was a little painful to bend forward.
During the flight it got worse so that by the time we arrived, took a cab to the hotel, we thought we'd best find a pharmacy and try get some anti-biotics (I thought maybe I had a little chest infection).
The pharmacist directed us to an emergency 'clinic' where they almost immediately diagnosed either a collapsed lung or Buller's disease. In either case, the point is that air escapes the lung, enters the chest cavity and puts pressure on the lung, collapsing it and, worse case scenario, pushing the whole lot to the side and cutting off circulation, death follows in a couple of minutes. The emergency clinic radiologist was off sick that day but he was roused to read the xray online and that probably saved my life since we were whisked straight into ER for emergency treatment.
This is the famous tube inserted through the ribs into the lung to drain fluid and air eventually to reinflate. That procedure was perhaps the most painful I have ever experienced, you don't feel the incision but when 25cms of tube get pushed in, you do feel it!
Under normal circumstances that procedure might be sufficient but xrays showed that I still had substantial areas of the left lung which could leak and cause another collapse, especially since I fly quite a bit. On that basis they decided to operate to remove any problem areas - they used a relatively new technique (the name escapes me) in which they make two holes and a camera goes into one while the cutting tool goes into the other. In the end they removed about 2/3rd of the left lung.

Thank God, Andrea was here with me, also that this didn't happen in Buenos Aries or Lima (where I was due to go next), I'm sure I wouldn't have survived...

I have many tales to tell of the extraordinary happenings inside Tulane medical center but they can wait!
For now, I am recuperating, trying hard to take things as easy as possible, not getting stressed about anything.
I have to have an xray, probably on friday to determine whether I am fit to fly - we hope very much to be able to get home on Tuesday next week.

Meanwhile, I'll be slowly checking my emails and responding to the more urgent matters, building up to a daily routine.

thanks for messages of support on facebook and elsewhere

all the best
s