So, enough background. Had a pulmo rehab evaluation on 1/09/08 at Duke Center for Living... walked 1100+ feet during the 6-minute walk. Guess that was okay 'cause they didn't say anything. Really nice fitness center...lots of huge windows, indoor pool, indoor track, lots of people and machines. There's also an outdoor track for when the weather turns nicer. …and lots of friendly, courteous people. I fell in love with it! I start pre-op rehab on Monday...5 days a week, 4 hours a day! I'm pooped just thinking about it.

The next day we went to the Duke Clinic where I had the pft (my FEV1 is the same as it was in 1994!), ctscan, abg and general blood draws. Met with Dr. D’amico who is going to do the LVRS. Because I originally was with Dr. Cooper, I really had it in the back of my mind that the open sternum type of surgery was the way to go (that’s what Dr. Cooper does) instead of the VATS (Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery) method that Dr. D’amico uses. Plus, I have been talking (via internet) with Tony who had the open chest surgery and he said it was a piece of cake, relatively speaking. Another woman had the VATS and she had a lot of pain afterwards (from the tubes inserted for post-op drainage, I think) and it seemed to take a long time for her to recover. I’m not particularly brave and pain isn’t really something I’d like on my menu so I was a bit leery of the VATS. However, Dr. D’amico was quite persuasive so VATS it’s going to be.

Duke...very neat place. Beautiful old buildings, shiny new buildings, exceptionally friendly staff (I think that must be the norm in most all big hospitals)...neat tram from clinic building to main building so really saves on walking!