Lymph Node Biopsy

Friday, 26 September 2008

Well just another medical joy...I feel like someone up there is laughing at me! I went in, got all prep, then...the radiologist couldn't find the lesion...she got the resident to look...he couldn't find the lesion...so finally the doctor comes in, she finally finds the lesion but only after nearly putting the ultrasound wand through my armpit. During the entire procedure the doctor was like a cheerleader for the resident and pretty much forgetting the fact that I was in the room. "Good job…go hear…no you missed it…go back…yeah" I did consent to the resident but was anxious the entire time. The doctor asked him a question and he answered with "I think so" … wait one minute "you think so or you know so!!! I could hear the two talking after the procedure and the doctor actually told the resident that this would probably the hardest biopsy he'll ever have to do…hello, I'm still in the room and don't want to hear shit like that! Oh, the doctor also told me that I was one of the youngest patients that she had ever worked on, now don't I feel special. First the resident froze me, it took over 10 minutes. Then the doctor started the procedure using the spring loaded claw needle (makes a wonderful click as she pulls the trigger), but then she was too afraid because my lesion is so close to my chest wall, so she decided to use a small suction type needle to get samples, only inventory was low today and every needle she asked for, they had run out of. So she finally started taking samples, then she lets the resident take samples (still cheering him on)…after about an hour and 8 samples later, the freezing started to wear off, so once I started screaming in pain, she said that they have enough samples. THEN she explains that because the lesion was so deep into my lymph node system (I have no idea) and too close to my chest wall, she is not confident that they will be able to get a diagnosis from them…meaning that if they can't diagnose them, then they will biopsy my nodes during surgery…good idea Einstein, couldn't you have just by-past today's little fiasco and do it during surgery! There is still some pain, but Dan has gone to get me some pain relievers.. Chinese food & ice cream!