Over the past few weeks, Luis has been feeling extremely fatigued and experiencing discomfort on his left side. Naturally, we assumed these feelings were side effects from his radiation treatment. (Luis has completed his radiation and we are SO proud!) On Wednesday, Luis had a chest X-ray and the doctors were instantly concerned because his entire left lung was glowing. The doctors informed Luis and his family that this either meant there was a large amount of fluid, or the cancer had completely consumed his lung. His doctor ordered a CT scan in order to gain greater insight and after viewing the images, he decided the latter was the most probable.
On Friday Luis went into surgery; the purpose of the surgery would be to see if there was any fluid withdraw. If there was no fluid withdraw, it would be confirmed that we were dealing with more cancer, and not fluid.
However, that was not the case. The surgeons drained 3 liters of fluid! Praise God! Currently, Luis is in ICU with a chest tube. Once his fluid output is less than 30 mL, it will be time to remove the tube. Until then, he will remain here at the hospital under the tender loving care of the incredible nurses.
As always, Luis has been amazing. He has been taking long walks around the floor in order to gain his strength back. He also has been singing and playing his guitar! He is incredible. Please think of Luis over the next couple of days as he remains here at the hospital. The doctors mentioned removing the chest tube sometime tomorrow. If you are anything like me, you are not a chest tube expert and your knowledge is limited, so I will share the little knowledge I have gained over the past few days. The tube is placed during surgery and it goes entirely inside the lung. However, the tube will be removed when Luis is awake. Luis has had one before and he knows how painful they are when removed. Please pray for peace for Luis as he gets closer and closer to having his tube removed. And also, please pray for the doctors as they consider the most fitting "next step" in Luis' treatment. We appreciate all of the prayers and encouraging words!
Words cannot explain how proud I am of Luis. I am not the best at translating my thoughts into words, and even if I were, my words would not do him justice. After all he has been through, both emotionally and physically, he still continues to assure us that he "is never going to give up." Luis is ALIVE and BREATHING. I have chosen to find peace and joy in his existence.
I love you Luis.
