Today I met with the pulmonologist again. He said that he reviewed my CT scans and Xrays with some radiologists, and he no longer thinks that the mass in my lung is a congenital problem. He says now that its one of two things; A tumor (cancerous or not) or some kind of infection. He said the only way to find out is to do a biopsy, and they must feel it needs to be done quickly because they went through the process of getting emergency approval from the hospital and low and behold....I have an appointment tomorrow morning to get a lung biopsy done. They will do it first thing in the morning, the procedure is scheduled for 9:30 but I have to be there two whole hours early! Luckily, Matthew will be able to take the day off, take Killian to school and then stay at home with Rowan while I am in the hospital. Toddlers + waiting rooms = trouble. Still, I am nervous about being alone the whole time, the nurse who called me to give me the info says they say the scheduled time for the procedure is 6 hours!! Yikes!
So here is whats supposed to happen. I go in, twiddle my thumbs for two hours (actually, I have no idea what I will be doing during this time, maybe swallowing dye, maybe getting meds, they didnt say) and then they take me in for my 3rd, yes 3rd, CT scan. When they get me on the table, they will clean an area of my back, and with the help of the CT machine and some local anesthetic, they will stick a pretty little (ha) needle like this through my back, and into the mass in my lung:
Hopefully they get it right, and get enough cells to make a diagnosis. Then I go into a recovery room for observation and more Xrays. There is a chance my lung could collapse because of the hole the needle makes, but they said for me that risk is low because of where the mass is located. It will still be a couple of hours that I need to stay for observation though. The doctor said we should know if its cancerous within 24-48 hours (please pray that its 24 hours, and I can find out Friday....I don't want to wait all weekend!) and if its a common infection within 72. They are also going to culture it and we should have the results of that within 2 weeks. He said there are some pretty funky infections out there, even one that's fungus in the lung. Gross!!
I am happy that I am getting in right away for the biopsy, hopeful that we will get a good diagnosis, and finally, after 3 months of pain, get this sorted out. It would almost be amusing all the diagnosis I have been given, if it wasn't all so damn maddening. First it was anemia, and eat more meat and drink some Gatorade. Then it was a blood clot. Then it was a pulled muscle and walking pneumonia. Now its potentially something serious, and the most likely path to take will be surgery to remove something, we just don't know what. He did say if it was an infection, that its typical to have patients on 5-7 different antibiotics for 18 MONTHS, and even then, there is only a 50% cure rate. He said some people don't even want to deal with that (surprising, huh?) and just have it taken out, which I think is what I would choose. Then of course, if its something more serious, a tumor or cancer then of course it would need to come out too. Lovely. Through this whole experience though, I am SO glad that I have listened to my gut on this. If I had just walked away from the doctor that first time, and not pushed for more testing, who knows where I would be now. Right now I am just hoping for a good outcome, and fast results!
So here is whats supposed to happen. I go in, twiddle my thumbs for two hours (actually, I have no idea what I will be doing during this time, maybe swallowing dye, maybe getting meds, they didnt say) and then they take me in for my 3rd, yes 3rd, CT scan. When they get me on the table, they will clean an area of my back, and with the help of the CT machine and some local anesthetic, they will stick a pretty little (ha) needle like this through my back, and into the mass in my lung:
Hopefully they get it right, and get enough cells to make a diagnosis. Then I go into a recovery room for observation and more Xrays. There is a chance my lung could collapse because of the hole the needle makes, but they said for me that risk is low because of where the mass is located. It will still be a couple of hours that I need to stay for observation though. The doctor said we should know if its cancerous within 24-48 hours (please pray that its 24 hours, and I can find out Friday....I don't want to wait all weekend!) and if its a common infection within 72. They are also going to culture it and we should have the results of that within 2 weeks. He said there are some pretty funky infections out there, even one that's fungus in the lung. Gross!!
I am happy that I am getting in right away for the biopsy, hopeful that we will get a good diagnosis, and finally, after 3 months of pain, get this sorted out. It would almost be amusing all the diagnosis I have been given, if it wasn't all so damn maddening. First it was anemia, and eat more meat and drink some Gatorade. Then it was a blood clot. Then it was a pulled muscle and walking pneumonia. Now its potentially something serious, and the most likely path to take will be surgery to remove something, we just don't know what. He did say if it was an infection, that its typical to have patients on 5-7 different antibiotics for 18 MONTHS, and even then, there is only a 50% cure rate. He said some people don't even want to deal with that (surprising, huh?) and just have it taken out, which I think is what I would choose. Then of course, if its something more serious, a tumor or cancer then of course it would need to come out too. Lovely. Through this whole experience though, I am SO glad that I have listened to my gut on this. If I had just walked away from the doctor that first time, and not pushed for more testing, who knows where I would be now. Right now I am just hoping for a good outcome, and fast results!