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long version: a busy day at St Paul's.
May. 11th, 2011 03:40 pmfrightening people is not fun. not when it's people you actually care about.
yesterday went... as it went. my mother took the day off to be with me, and we drove downtown together. i dropped off my sputum sample (fungal testing) and had my CT. then, a blood draw for blood cultures and other levels, and then, to medical short stay.
the people here and in the rest of the hospital were efficient, careful, and hard-working.
i think my nurse, however, placed my IV wrong. it may have pierced the wall of the vein rather than settled in it, due to the bruise i have now. (and what happened afterward).
i was given ventolin to try to ease down the asthmatic component, and oxygen during the procedure.
what blocks our lungs from the rest of our throat, and thereby activating our gag reflex? our vocal cords. so, in order to go down, they freeze the vocal cords with lidocane liquid and spray. this, unfortunately, made me extremely nauseated (gag reflex), but a dose of maxeran and a cup with suction took away those problems.
they gave me fentanyl, which was supposed to make me drowsy enough for them to work and for me to experience little discomfort, but i was quite awake through the whole thing. they tried giving me more, and more, but it never worked. i got a little dopey, but not as much as i should have. though i had my glasses off, and i had a cloth partially covering my eyes, i saw my lungs, but didn't.
on the CT, there is a mass of fluid building below the blockage, which in turn seems to be caused by a small blockage and a good deal of swelling. it's not nearly the size of a fist (maybe a child's fist?), but any fluid build-up is never a good thing. it can't just be allowed to sit there.
they still don't know what is causing the swelling, or the blockage.
they couldn't reach the blockage. it's not positioned in a way they could pop it out with a surgical procedure, either, so they said. just trying to get there made me cough too much. they took brushings (gentle brushes on the epithelial cells on the lung tissue) and samples to culture. this, in addition to the sputum sample i submitted before i went up, may reveal something- but those results may not come through for another few days.
apart from this, the rest of the lungs seem fine. great, in fact.
they still can't figure out why i feel fine. i shouldn't feel this good. not at all.
the hardest part was waiting for the procedure to begin, and waiting for everything to wear off. because of the amounts of opiates i had, i should have been tired, but i wasn't. (they kept hoping i would fall asleep and stop being troublesome, but i didn't). i couldn't eat or drink anything for 2 hours due to the vocal cords being frozen (though i could talk. whut?! well, it's true, you can), since you can aspirate what you try to swallow if they're not properly awake.
this, in combination with the fasting throughout the day (and the hospital being behind in its work, an hour and a half late for my procedure), i was quite worn out.
the headache was worse than being hungry, though. hungry, i can do (and who wants to eat or drink with the stench of sterile water in your mouth??). headaches.... i just become a general pain in the ass (particularly if i'm not allowed to take anything for it).
all i wanted to do was tear all the lines out and run madly around.
that last half hour was one of the longest in my medical stays. it reminded me of being forced to lay down for half an hour after i had my last PICC out. (my mother nearly held me down. remember... i'm 32 this year).
i don't know why. normally i have more patience.
i guess it's because i wasn't told what to expect. you know... you're ready to fly out the door, and someone says, "Oh, by the way, you have to lie still for two hours/half an hour/an hour."
i felt like i was four years old again.
because my mother had fasted with me, had been a carefully guarded nervous wreck throughout the whole thing, i made her go to a hotel with me to have a small break of fluids and... get this.... cheese on toast. !! it was, by far, the best cheese on toast i'd ever had.
we went home. mum went to bed, and i had a bowl of curry my dad had made for us in our absence, and a beer.
i was warned i might have a fever in the night, and indeed, i did. it was, however, far more comfortable to wake in my own bed, only a little warm and sluggish, be able to go down and take my own tylenol, and go back to my own bed a moment later, undisturbed.
my chest hurts today, though. it must have been some deep spasms yesterday.
it'll be better by tomorrow, i think. and by then, maybe, they can advise me on what i have to do.
could be aspergillus. i've grown it before, briefly, but it had no effect on me.
a few days, maybe, and we'll see.
yesterday went... as it went. my mother took the day off to be with me, and we drove downtown together. i dropped off my sputum sample (fungal testing) and had my CT. then, a blood draw for blood cultures and other levels, and then, to medical short stay.
the people here and in the rest of the hospital were efficient, careful, and hard-working.
i think my nurse, however, placed my IV wrong. it may have pierced the wall of the vein rather than settled in it, due to the bruise i have now. (and what happened afterward).
i was given ventolin to try to ease down the asthmatic component, and oxygen during the procedure.
what blocks our lungs from the rest of our throat, and thereby activating our gag reflex? our vocal cords. so, in order to go down, they freeze the vocal cords with lidocane liquid and spray. this, unfortunately, made me extremely nauseated (gag reflex), but a dose of maxeran and a cup with suction took away those problems.
they gave me fentanyl, which was supposed to make me drowsy enough for them to work and for me to experience little discomfort, but i was quite awake through the whole thing. they tried giving me more, and more, but it never worked. i got a little dopey, but not as much as i should have. though i had my glasses off, and i had a cloth partially covering my eyes, i saw my lungs, but didn't.
on the CT, there is a mass of fluid building below the blockage, which in turn seems to be caused by a small blockage and a good deal of swelling. it's not nearly the size of a fist (maybe a child's fist?), but any fluid build-up is never a good thing. it can't just be allowed to sit there.
they still don't know what is causing the swelling, or the blockage.
they couldn't reach the blockage. it's not positioned in a way they could pop it out with a surgical procedure, either, so they said. just trying to get there made me cough too much. they took brushings (gentle brushes on the epithelial cells on the lung tissue) and samples to culture. this, in addition to the sputum sample i submitted before i went up, may reveal something- but those results may not come through for another few days.
apart from this, the rest of the lungs seem fine. great, in fact.
they still can't figure out why i feel fine. i shouldn't feel this good. not at all.
the hardest part was waiting for the procedure to begin, and waiting for everything to wear off. because of the amounts of opiates i had, i should have been tired, but i wasn't. (they kept hoping i would fall asleep and stop being troublesome, but i didn't). i couldn't eat or drink anything for 2 hours due to the vocal cords being frozen (though i could talk. whut?! well, it's true, you can), since you can aspirate what you try to swallow if they're not properly awake.
this, in combination with the fasting throughout the day (and the hospital being behind in its work, an hour and a half late for my procedure), i was quite worn out.
the headache was worse than being hungry, though. hungry, i can do (and who wants to eat or drink with the stench of sterile water in your mouth??). headaches.... i just become a general pain in the ass (particularly if i'm not allowed to take anything for it).
all i wanted to do was tear all the lines out and run madly around.
that last half hour was one of the longest in my medical stays. it reminded me of being forced to lay down for half an hour after i had my last PICC out. (my mother nearly held me down. remember... i'm 32 this year).
i don't know why. normally i have more patience.
i guess it's because i wasn't told what to expect. you know... you're ready to fly out the door, and someone says, "Oh, by the way, you have to lie still for two hours/half an hour/an hour."
i felt like i was four years old again.
because my mother had fasted with me, had been a carefully guarded nervous wreck throughout the whole thing, i made her go to a hotel with me to have a small break of fluids and... get this.... cheese on toast. !! it was, by far, the best cheese on toast i'd ever had.
we went home. mum went to bed, and i had a bowl of curry my dad had made for us in our absence, and a beer.
i was warned i might have a fever in the night, and indeed, i did. it was, however, far more comfortable to wake in my own bed, only a little warm and sluggish, be able to go down and take my own tylenol, and go back to my own bed a moment later, undisturbed.
my chest hurts today, though. it must have been some deep spasms yesterday.
it'll be better by tomorrow, i think. and by then, maybe, they can advise me on what i have to do.
could be aspergillus. i've grown it before, briefly, but it had no effect on me.
a few days, maybe, and we'll see.
