Hi Casey. I' m glad I checked in last night. Dr. Kaufman and Cacavelli seem to be quite busy. Are you going to have a Nerve transplant, phrenic ot diaphragm , pacing or plication? Did you meet with Dr Cole for nerve mapping or did they set you up with testing in your home town. I get excited every time I hear someone has found the Dr. I have been writing to a lot of people but some of the posts are so old I'm sure that many people have given up!

To answer your question's about pain. the 1st day my wife said I kept saying the surgery was nothing and if I wasn’t hooked to a chest tube I could get up and do what ever I wanted. Well then they took me off the morphine drip the next day and reality set in. It was not the worst pain I've ever experienced but there was a good deal of pain that hey did a very good job of controlling. They would give me a shot and in 1-2 minutes I would be out for 6-8 hours but sleep does help you heal. Will your surgery be at St Peters University Hospital? Great surgical team and operating room but I’ve been to the Mayo clinic and that’s like a 5 star hotel competing with a 2 star. Don't get me wrong it was a good hospital but if you ever go to a place like Mayo and hopefully if you do it is to visit, there is know comparison.

My surgery ended up being more complicated than expected so i spent and extra day & 1/2 at the hospital. The rest was at the Sheraton Inn. If you have not got a hotel yet price line was great. Do the bid on an arear that is in the area. I pick 3& 4 star and bid low. I always end up under there suggested price. $50 / night at Sheraton you just don't know which hotel your going to get but by doing it by the star rating they have been great.

If you need to rent a car while there Enterprise was the best. They picked me up at the airport ,gave me a free upgrade and took me back to the air port.

I guess I've gotten off the subject. Pain was managed by the hospital and Dr. Kaufman gave me a prescription for vicadin which I do not like but it survey the purpose of pain control and allowed me to sleep. I did have a problem with swelling of my right leg after the nerve was removed. This was controlled by a compression stocking but it took about 3 week after the surgery to go back to normal. I still do have some pain as they removed a partial rib due to the placement of my diaphragm. it is more sensitive at times , but I expect that is dependant on how hard i am pushing myself. I have been working at bulding up some stamina again and periodically run a sled hill in the area with my dog. 5 months ago it would have been a challenge to walk up it. My surgery was march 5th.

Tell Dr. Kaufman that I said Hello. He is going to be wondering how people coming to see him know me (case #13) Good luck I hope to keep contact and follow your recovery.

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Good luck Ross