Okay, I don't really know how big it was. They wheeled it in while my back was turned. Then they used to it to drain 700 milliliters of fluid from the space around my right lung. It's called a thoracentesis, and it's normally not a huge deal, but of course, I had to be all dramatic about it.
WARNING: Do not read while eating!
This morning I went to see my surgeon. We're still in a holding pattern about my heart rate and anemia because I'm waiting to see the cardio and hemotologist, but the surgeon said it's time to drain off that pesky fluid. I agreed, because I was at a total low point when I saw him today, exhausted, febrile, short of breath, you name it.
So they send me from the hospital to the clinic, and tell me that it's just sort of like having an IV in my back, and that I can eat lunch. So we eat lunch, and a few hours later I'm getting checked in.
The nurses were a little worried about my high HR, but of course draining the fluid is supposed to help that go down. So I go into the little room and sit on the edge of the bed with my upper body leaning forward against a pillow on a meal tray. While I am distracted they wheel in Big Bertha. They do a quick back ultrasound, give me a few injections of lidocane in my back, insert the catheter, and start draining. They tell me to speak up if I feel severe pain.
Mostly the whole thing is more creepy than painful. In fact, after the first shot of lidocane, it definitely was not painful, just creepy, until they were almost done draining me. Then I suddenly felt a lot of pain below the catheter site, and told them. That was their signal that they had to end a little early.
As they removed the catheter, my blood pressure dropped super-low and I started to faint! This was Unusual Drama #1 for the day. Both the tech and the doctor -- who, incidentally, was definitely somewhere between drinking age and car-renting age -- were flustered. I don't know how I managed to remain conscious; I think it was because there was no place to lay down immediately but on my left side, and I knew that would be bad. By the time they had eased me onto my back, I was very nauseated. I told them so, and they couldn't find * WARNING! WARNING! GROSS PART!* something to barf in in the room, so they sat me up again over a huge, waist-high waste bin.
That was Unusual Drama #2. The doctor had never had a patient barf before.
Fortunately, the barfing sobered me up and I was no longer faint. The doc and tech were visibly relieved when the after-care nurse rushed in with her monitoring devices, washcloths, barf-cup, etc. Then they wheeled me to after-care, where they monitored me for a few hours.
So why am I writing this really long post? It's taken me a long time to write it, because it's hard for me to be in any one position for very long. Part of my chest is breathing easier and part is painful and I feel "bubbly" where my lung had been collapsed by the extra fluid.
I'm writing it so that other members can a.) learn what a normal thoracentesis should be like, and b.) what happens when you have dippy blood pressure, like me.
And now, if anyone has had a thoracentesis of their own, please tell me what it felt like the evening and day afterwards, because it feels really weird to me.
WARNING: Do not read while eating!
This morning I went to see my surgeon. We're still in a holding pattern about my heart rate and anemia because I'm waiting to see the cardio and hemotologist, but the surgeon said it's time to drain off that pesky fluid. I agreed, because I was at a total low point when I saw him today, exhausted, febrile, short of breath, you name it.
So they send me from the hospital to the clinic, and tell me that it's just sort of like having an IV in my back, and that I can eat lunch. So we eat lunch, and a few hours later I'm getting checked in.
The nurses were a little worried about my high HR, but of course draining the fluid is supposed to help that go down. So I go into the little room and sit on the edge of the bed with my upper body leaning forward against a pillow on a meal tray. While I am distracted they wheel in Big Bertha. They do a quick back ultrasound, give me a few injections of lidocane in my back, insert the catheter, and start draining. They tell me to speak up if I feel severe pain.
Mostly the whole thing is more creepy than painful. In fact, after the first shot of lidocane, it definitely was not painful, just creepy, until they were almost done draining me. Then I suddenly felt a lot of pain below the catheter site, and told them. That was their signal that they had to end a little early.
As they removed the catheter, my blood pressure dropped super-low and I started to faint! This was Unusual Drama #1 for the day. Both the tech and the doctor -- who, incidentally, was definitely somewhere between drinking age and car-renting age -- were flustered. I don't know how I managed to remain conscious; I think it was because there was no place to lay down immediately but on my left side, and I knew that would be bad. By the time they had eased me onto my back, I was very nauseated. I told them so, and they couldn't find * WARNING! WARNING! GROSS PART!* something to barf in in the room, so they sat me up again over a huge, waist-high waste bin.
That was Unusual Drama #2. The doctor had never had a patient barf before.
Fortunately, the barfing sobered me up and I was no longer faint. The doc and tech were visibly relieved when the after-care nurse rushed in with her monitoring devices, washcloths, barf-cup, etc. Then they wheeled me to after-care, where they monitored me for a few hours.
So why am I writing this really long post? It's taken me a long time to write it, because it's hard for me to be in any one position for very long. Part of my chest is breathing easier and part is painful and I feel "bubbly" where my lung had been collapsed by the extra fluid.
I'm writing it so that other members can a.) learn what a normal thoracentesis should be like, and b.) what happens when you have dippy blood pressure, like me.
And now, if anyone has had a thoracentesis of their own, please tell me what it felt like the evening and day afterwards, because it feels really weird to me.
