This will be a hard week for me...

On Wednesday, my mom is having surgery to remove something called a "bronchogenic cyst" from her chest cavity. They are going to have to crack open her chest cavity to get to it. It's basically a cyst that they believe she's had since birth, and it lies in between her heart and lungs. It has grown from something very small at birth to what it is now -- the size of a softball -- and she's been having this problem with spontaneously choking and always feeling like there's something in her throat for years. They caught this cyst by accident when xraying her chest for pneumonia, but she had known something with wrong with her and had had numerous doctors check her throat internally for signs that something was wrong to no avail.

Anyway, the surgery is pretty serious... obviously. I think I have been in denial about it and haven't really told anyone. I am worried she won't come out of it, mostly because she's a smoker, and she's going to have to have general anesthesia for the surgery, and to my knowledge, she hasn't quit smoking (even if only temporarily) to improve the amount of oxygen in her system, which is where complications might arise from.

This is not considered an elective surgery, but a life-saving one at this point -- after further examination, they see that the cyst is mostlikely attached to her heart and/or her lungs, and at some point could suffocate either or both, so it must be removed.

Soooo, this is going to be a long, confusing, tough week, and I'm not looking forward to it. I hope it ends up being a simple surgery and an easy recovery for my mom.