Jamh1 - regarding your thymectomy
 

Hi - just taking your discussion out of Kimmy's thread so you can get some answers specific to your own situation.

I had the sternum split for a thymoma 4 years ago. My thymoma was 9cm across. I also work with computers so kind of in a similar situation.

The answer to how long you'll be out is "it depends" on the thymoma. If it is still fully encapsulated you can expect to be able to be back to work within 6 - 8 weeks. If it is not, you'll be looking at radiation therapy for the cancer in addition to the thymectomy - this will put you out for quite a bit longer. I was out for just about a year but a lot of my time out was due to a myasthenic crisis brought on by post-radiation pneumonia. I'd have been back at work in 6 months from the time of my thymectomy if it were not for the crisis crash.

I was in for my 4 year followup with my oncologist today and he told me about a new MG patient in the area who had a thymoma but it was fully encapsulated - no radiation needed for him; they'll just be monitoring carefully for any new instances of cancer in the chest over the next few years.

thanks for the extra info. from what they can see so far it looks to be encapsulated so hopefully no radiation. did it take you that long to feel better from the surgery or because the mg flared with the surgery? or maybe its hard to separate the two. i meet with the surgeon next week so hope to have some good answers. thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

Yeah, mine looked encapsulated on the CT scans too... wasn't under the microscope though. Best of luck to you on that side of things... really radiation therapy sucks. It is exhausting like nothing else I've ever experienced.

If it were not for the radiation therapy, I'd have been back to work about 5 or 6 weeks post surgery. Radiation started at 6 weeks post surgery and ran for another 6 weeks. I was just getting back on my feet when the post radiation pneumonia kicked me back down.