.
Okay. One down on this week's To Do list.
It went well, for a bronchoscopy. Everyone seemed very competent and very nice. This was at Broward General. They impressed me again with their sterility procedures, and my bed was righteously decorated with the *BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!* signs that keep us all assured that we're mutually safe. Comforting.
When I said I felt a little *crashy* from diabetes, they didn't ignore it. They stayed careful about my blood sugar - like any surgical procedure, you can't eat or drink 12 hours before a bronchoscopy, so a diabetic can get Issues during surgery.
The anesthesia nurse wasn't attitudinal about pain control, for which she got my heartfelt thanks. While I was still conscious, she even used a little extra. Nice. Not taking my morning meds had left me resorting to the Teeth Gritting Method. I lay in their bed playing with my left-hand fingers. Just because I could.
Before they put me under, they gave me a breathing treatment of Lidocaine, the same topical anesthetic as in those lovely patches. Oh heaven! The lungs haven't been hurting all that bad; but sometimes dull constant pain can drive a person crazy worse than the knife-stab type.
I'd never even heard of such a thing as Lidocaine for Lungs! So when they told me what the breathing treatment was, I was awestruck; I breathed --Oh THANK you!!!-- and they all cracked up. Someone behind me murmured, --Isn't it funny how it's the little things in life?!...
and I relaxed and breathed like a Regular Person till I'd sucked it all down; then next I remember, I was coughing and coughing and wondering how much longer before we got started. Until someone told me it was actually all over. All done. Rest for three hours, then go home.
The doc said he saw nothing of immediate huge concern, but did take multiple specimens. That many biopsies is unusual. Often they take none, or just one. Thursday I get to hear if they've learned anything from them. I'll betcha $5 it's mostly fungal, meaning a lot will show up erroneously as *non-pathological;* but, this great diagnostician will know what it is, and what to do, with at least half of it.
That's about it. I'm sleeping a lot. The bleeding and so forth is about the same, so I've no new concerns. Now, just be patient and wait; and that's something I can do well.
YAY! Medical Update Duty done. Back to Fun Stuff!
.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Paypal Tip Jar
I like to give value where I can.
Like what you see?
Like to reward folks for value provided?
Then feel free to hit the Tip Jar.
Or not. As you wish!
About Me
- k
- I'm a nice quiet middle-aged former bankbuster, disabled since age 32 with a myriad of weird health issues. I love heat and humidity and odd hobbies like fossil hunting, tromping around in the Everglades, backyard bricklaying, and rescuing plants damaged by our spate of hurricanes. Oh - I like to live-blog hurricanes, too.***** I have a wonderful life. I'm one of the happiest people I know. Why? I don't know.***** I also have nightmare memories in my head that would send some folks around the bend. But that's another story, one I don't tell much, and I seem to have made it past the horror parts pretty well.***** I have nothing to prove so it's hard to insult me. I know who I am. I own the space I live in - and I don't mean just my house. My life is way far from perfect, but I'm content.***** For some readers, that would make this a boring blog. For others, my fun adventures, absurd health episodes, and particular way of looking at things keep 'em entertained enough, in the end.
Links
Blog Archive
- October 2012 (1)
- May 2012 (1)
- August 2011 (1)
- July 2011 (3)
- September 2010 (2)
- April 2010 (2)
- March 2010 (1)
- February 2010 (1)
- December 2009 (1)
- November 2009 (3)
- September 2009 (1)
- August 2009 (2)
- July 2009 (1)
- June 2009 (2)
- May 2009 (13)
- April 2009 (5)
- March 2009 (2)
- February 2009 (2)
- January 2009 (8)
- December 2008 (3)
- November 2008 (3)
- October 2008 (5)
- September 2008 (10)
- August 2008 (4)
- July 2008 (3)
- June 2008 (20)
- May 2008 (7)
- April 2008 (10)
- March 2008 (16)
- February 2008 (14)
- January 2008 (13)
- December 2007 (21)
- November 2007 (17)
- October 2007 (24)
- September 2007 (14)
- August 2007 (21)
- July 2007 (40)
- June 2007 (18)
- May 2007 (27)
- April 2007 (21)
- March 2007 (16)
- February 2007 (10)
- January 2007 (12)
- December 2006 (24)
- November 2006 (37)
- October 2006 (32)
- September 2006 (19)
- August 2006 (18)
- July 2006 (16)
- June 2006 (43)
- May 2006 (60)
- April 2006 (14)
- March 2006 (32)
- February 2006 (39)
- January 2006 (10)
- December 2005 (11)
- November 2005 (107)
- October 2005 (3)
- September 2005 (8)
- August 2005 (30)
- July 2005 (3)
- June 2005 (2)
- May 2005 (35)
- April 2005 (11)
6 comments:
I'm relieved to hear that there is at least *one* competent hospital in your area.
Best of luck on the results.
YAY! At last someone is doing something RIGHT! I'm waiting to hear the results, my friend.
I hope you're back in the yard communing with your flowers and bugs soon!
Pops, there's a couple rather unnerving aspects about all this, ones that go to How To Pick a Facility.
A couple years ago, Holy Cross was rated among the best 50 hospitals in America. Not Florida. America.That's where I first went with the gastroenteritis. I had asked the ambulance paramedics to take me to Imperial Point - anywhere but Holy Cross, who'd messed me up with that lung infection 2 years ago. Oh, they messed up bad.At first the paramedics said, --Okay. But then they saw my heartbeat had reached 144, so they had no choice: protocol dictated they take me to the closest ER.
Considering what happened later, it was probably a good thing I missed out on Imperial Point's ER, at least. That's the domain of the Evil ER Nurse, plus a whole lot of staff that apparently go along with, even encourage, such behavior.
But...Broward General is on the exact same hospital system as Imperial Point. How could their safety procedures, and staff attitudes, be so radically different?
And one reason I used to think Imperial Point was okay was because that's where I had the hand surgery a few years back. They did a great job.
Last but not least, I had some very...say, not exemplary experiences at Broward General's ER in days gone by. Their current ER has been totally revamped, as have their protocols, staff attitude, all that.
So it seems to depend more on why you're at a particular hospital, more than their overall reputation or affiliations.
Joyce, it really is comforting to have them do a good job. I suppose we really can't tell for positive sure unless we're docs ourselves, but judging by what I could, I sure do feel more confidence in hospital medical care than I have for a while.
And...we'll see about getting back out in that yard, too. Might not be much longer after all.
Cause I need some nice new flower pix.
How could their safety procedures, and staff attitudes, be so radically different?There's probably a bigger impact from who is the medical director/director of nursing and/or the doctor(s) on duty and on-call at that facility than which organization it is associated with. The emergency rooms of bigger hospitals tend to have their own management levels separate from the rest of the hospital.
Good lord, woman. Your upbeat attitude continues to floor me!
But, I am so glad of it, cause you do help keep me humble.
Good luck on the test results, dear!
DC, actually that makes perfect sense. There was such a feel of being *personality-driven* to it all.
Jean, believe me, I do my share of wrestling with it. Especially this time.
Conscious decision goes into so much of what we do - even when we aren't aware the decision was a conscious one. (If that makes any sense!) And it seems that most of us feel better once we've made a decision, even a painful one. There's a relief that washes over us when we move from the undecided phase into the action phase.
So you're seeing me in post-decision action phase, which accidentally makes me look more upbeat.
YOU do things I should have done many times in my life, but didn't have the strength: When you have something difficult looming ahead, a serious life change, you carefully plan and strategize and *put aside* materiel in ways we all know we should, but rarely do. At certain critical times, you become the ant - instead of the grasshopper - and keep yourself safe from a great deal of the damage that people like me fall subject to.
So these days, when I see that light of an oncoming train, my preparations include this question: --What would Jean do now?
Post a Comment