Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Bronch today

I had a bronchoscopy (bronch) this morning.  It went much smoother than the one they did while I was still in the hospital.  A bronch is where they send tubes down your throat into your airways into your lungs to look around, take samples etc.  They have to spray lots of numbing stuff in your throat before they can do this.  They also drug me up with fentenyl and verced (no idea if either of those are spelled right but they really work!).

The hospital bronch didn't start off well because the intern came in and wanted to start spraying the numbing stuff down my throat.  Well...that stuff makes you gag.  I asked her to please stop but she kept on spraying.  Lesson learned...too much spray causes me to vomit on the intern!  They stopped for a minute after that :-) 

I told the nurses about that episode and asked if they could please drug me a little before they started spraying the numbing stuff.  When the nurses told the doc their suggestion of drugs before vomit he was all for it (he was dressed very nicely).  So they gave me just enough drugs that I was totally relaxed and able to work with the doc in numbing my throat.  Then they shot more drugs in me and next thing I knew we were done!

The doc talked to Lee and said that everything looked great.  He didn't see any signs of infection or rejection or fungus.  Those are the three things that the docs are always looking for.  During the bronch, they spray some water in my lungs and then suck it out and test the water for the three problems.  They also take a couple of little chunks for biopsy.  I'll have those results in a few days.

After the bronch Lee and I went to get me food and then back to the apt for a nap - the drugs hang around for a while :-)  My next bronch is scheduled at the three month mark - unless they want to do one in between.

I have another clinic appointment in the morning.  I'm really ready to get my staples and stitches out...I hope tomorrow is the day!  I have a list of questions for the doctor and once I've seen him, I'll let you know his answers.  I'm seeing Dr. Steele tomorrow (I saw Dr. Snyder last week).  I hopefully will see Dr. Zaas next week but he's in London this week so Dr. Steele it is.

Take care everyone and give yourselves a hug for me!

Love,
Lee, Wendy and Missy

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