The Hospital and Rain

Today was my Bronchoscopy and another stormy day in California. Jim, his mom, and I were reminiscing that I seem to have surgeries or procedures during the biggest storms of the year. The funny thing now is when they ask you about what surgeries you've had (before you have your surgery) I used to be able to list them from birth and it didn't take much time. Now, I can't believe how many I have to go over with them - just in the last 13 months. A Bronchoscopy is considered more of a procedure than a surgery. I've decided to make a spreadsheet - surgeries and procedures - print it out and hand it to them for pre-op. Think of the time I will save?

Whoever told me that during a Bronchoscopy you are so medicated that you don't remember anything, well - they lied! I remember every bit of it. I even remember them giving me more medication so I wouldn't be so alert. I don't think it kicked in until I got home. It wasn't a terrible procedure. I just wish I would have been more asleep during it. He first tried to get the camera down my nose but had some difficulty, so he went down my throat. He did a "wash" in my lungs and took some sections of the tissue to send to the lab. I guess the natural reaction is to cough and I did that a lot. At the end the doctor prescribed something to help control the coughing.

As the nurses were preparing me for the procedure, my doctor (Dr. A) explained my tests results so far. The tests only have confirmed what we have already known - I can't take a deep breath. We now know it's from scar tissue, but still do not know why? When he was talking to me he explained that he didn't feel the Bronchoscopy was going to give us much more information. He told me I would probably need the lung biopsy. When Dr. A spoke to Jim and Judy they understood that there's still a possibility I won't have to have a lung biopsy. If the procedure shows mold or a fungus in my lungs (which would be a good thing), there is medication they can treat it with, if it doesn't then I'm off to UCLA for the lung biopsy. My blood work results still have not come back so there is a chance they could show something too. I will see Dr. A next week and should have all the results by then. I'm still not great at this waiting game.

I came home and slept, and slept, and slept. I came out of the drug fog around 5:00 pm. It really hurts to cough now and I can hear the crackling in my chest. My back is extremely tender so I'm assuming that is from pulling out samples within the lung (really not sure why). It does feel like everything is really broken up and loose within the lung. I would think that would be a good thing.

Once again I'm so thankful that God has complete control over this situation. I was so blessed to have Dawn again for a nurse. She cares so much. I'm very thankful for having Dr. A. You can tell he cares and is doing absolutely everything he can to get me better and figure out what is going on with my lungs. I love the fact that he was the one who performed the Bronchoscopy so he was able to see first hand what my lungs look like. I'm so thankful that Jim and his mom were there to keep me calm and to take care of me. Jim has been through so much with me and has been a strong pillar to lean on.

I thank you for your prayers and promise to let you know my results as soon as I have them.

As I picture this journey I felt I was climbing this large mountain during cancer treatments. I do believe I reached the top and was beginning the climb down. This lung situation has just taken me into a very dense forest. It's been hard to see the sunlight and with the rain today it made it a very cold and dreary day. I just keep telling myself I will be out of this forest soon and am looking forward to walking in the sunshine once again.

I love the chorus to the upbeat song, "I'm walking on sunshine, woooah,and don't it feel good!!" I'll be singing it loud and clear soon! You might want to get some ear plugs.