Sleep is a beautiful thing.
Feb. 21st, 2012 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
genlisaeIt really, really is. I can string words together coherently now.
Right. How did yesterday go? Can be summed up in one sentence: I can not breathe blood.
The whole thing went relatively smoothly to start with, arrived early, got in early, everything co-operated, imaging actually worked without having to bring in any specialized equipment and showed "the thing" lined up wonderfully between two ribs. My shoulder blade slid nicely out of the way without having to adopt any strange uncomfortable positions. The whole local freezing process was distinctly uncomfortable, totally expected since it had to go deep and thus took several, progressively deeper injections, but overall everything was set to go by the time I was scheduled to be checking in. All was good.
And that should have been a sign.
The conversation went something like:
Dr: Still comfortable?
Me: Yes.
Dr: Alright, I am going to take the sample now. Remember not to breathe until I say so ... and breathe in ... breathe out .. hold it ........ What is that?
Microscope guy (I didn't catch his actual title, but he was the one who was looking at things under the scope): That's not right.
*me thinking: I would really like to breathe about now ... any time .... any time now ... oh shit.
Dr: It was on target.
Microscope guy: It is a good sample.
Me: Umm, I need to cough.
And right about then everything kind of went to shit. The coughing only lasted about 5 minutes for which I am very grateful because there were murmurs going on behind me about when to move me to surgery to stop the bleeding and did they have various medications on hand. 10 ccs (about 2 teaspoons) of the coughed up blood was collected for testing the rest ended up in a nicely deep pool in one of those weird cardboard containers hospitals have and in countless tissues, all over the linens ... and in my hair >:|
It seems (many checks with the imaging equipment they had there later) the biopsy needle passed through a rather large vein (guessing from the location of the clot that formed ... and the copious amounts of blood) which bleed out into my lung. This is not typical of the procedure I had. Small amounts of "pink stuff" are normal, maybe a trickle of blood but my respirologist has only ever seen one other person bleed significantly from this procedure in 30+ years. He apologized for it. Not sure why, it isn't like he could have known there would be a vein in the way but I guess it gets to the doctors as well when a fairly routine procedure ends up with the patient attempting to drown on their own blood.
Then it was a lot of being monitored very closely, and not allowed to walk even though I felt perfectly capable of doing so. Nurses asking if I was breathing okay (but shallow breaths please, as if I was capable of doing more than that!), did anything hurt, did I feel light headed ... etc, etc, etc. Oh and the eventual, wonderful news of I could expect to be coughing up bits of the clot for at least the next 48 hours, probably closer to a week. If at any point it seems there was fresh blood I am to go immediately, preferably by ambulance to the nearest ER ... and I am now on a very close watch for any signs of lung infection and am not allowed to do more than walk a few steps for the next few days :/
Really though, I feel much better today. Kind of like I have been stabbed actually and a very sore shoulder but better. My right lung feels a little like it has been run through a cheese grater and swallowing is still difficult, but that is kind of to be expected after an extended bout of violent coughing.
Over all I am good, and "The thing" remains a "thing". Microscope guy was nice enough to talk me through what he was seeing while checking that it was going to be a useful sample (not that they were going to try again if it hadn't been, that was unanimously agreed to even without my input. For the record though, my vote was for no!) and there was nothing initially indicative of malignant cell growth. Tests will be run and then maybe there will be some answers.
Right. How did yesterday go? Can be summed up in one sentence: I can not breathe blood.
The whole thing went relatively smoothly to start with, arrived early, got in early, everything co-operated, imaging actually worked without having to bring in any specialized equipment and showed "the thing" lined up wonderfully between two ribs. My shoulder blade slid nicely out of the way without having to adopt any strange uncomfortable positions. The whole local freezing process was distinctly uncomfortable, totally expected since it had to go deep and thus took several, progressively deeper injections, but overall everything was set to go by the time I was scheduled to be checking in. All was good.
And that should have been a sign.
The conversation went something like:
Dr: Still comfortable?
Me: Yes.
Dr: Alright, I am going to take the sample now. Remember not to breathe until I say so ... and breathe in ... breathe out .. hold it ........ What is that?
Microscope guy (I didn't catch his actual title, but he was the one who was looking at things under the scope): That's not right.
*me thinking: I would really like to breathe about now ... any time .... any time now ... oh shit.
Dr: It was on target.
Microscope guy: It is a good sample.
Me: Umm, I need to cough.
And right about then everything kind of went to shit. The coughing only lasted about 5 minutes for which I am very grateful because there were murmurs going on behind me about when to move me to surgery to stop the bleeding and did they have various medications on hand. 10 ccs (about 2 teaspoons) of the coughed up blood was collected for testing the rest ended up in a nicely deep pool in one of those weird cardboard containers hospitals have and in countless tissues, all over the linens ... and in my hair >:|
It seems (many checks with the imaging equipment they had there later) the biopsy needle passed through a rather large vein (guessing from the location of the clot that formed ... and the copious amounts of blood) which bleed out into my lung. This is not typical of the procedure I had. Small amounts of "pink stuff" are normal, maybe a trickle of blood but my respirologist has only ever seen one other person bleed significantly from this procedure in 30+ years. He apologized for it. Not sure why, it isn't like he could have known there would be a vein in the way but I guess it gets to the doctors as well when a fairly routine procedure ends up with the patient attempting to drown on their own blood.
Then it was a lot of being monitored very closely, and not allowed to walk even though I felt perfectly capable of doing so. Nurses asking if I was breathing okay (but shallow breaths please, as if I was capable of doing more than that!), did anything hurt, did I feel light headed ... etc, etc, etc. Oh and the eventual, wonderful news of I could expect to be coughing up bits of the clot for at least the next 48 hours, probably closer to a week. If at any point it seems there was fresh blood I am to go immediately, preferably by ambulance to the nearest ER ... and I am now on a very close watch for any signs of lung infection and am not allowed to do more than walk a few steps for the next few days :/
Really though, I feel much better today. Kind of like I have been stabbed actually and a very sore shoulder but better. My right lung feels a little like it has been run through a cheese grater and swallowing is still difficult, but that is kind of to be expected after an extended bout of violent coughing.
Over all I am good, and "The thing" remains a "thing". Microscope guy was nice enough to talk me through what he was seeing while checking that it was going to be a useful sample (not that they were going to try again if it hadn't been, that was unanimously agreed to even without my input. For the record though, my vote was for no!) and there was nothing initially indicative of malignant cell growth. Tests will be run and then maybe there will be some answers.
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Date: 2012-02-21 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-22 05:13 pm (UTC)