disease processing facility experience

out of blue pain in chest & dizziness

see doc

xray

"pleural effusion"

hospital tiem

inflammation parameters high

intravenous antibiotics

puncture chest, drain 1.5 liters of fluid

various fluids are tested for whatever

wait for results... no significant results except high level of lymphocytes

CT

lung endoscopy (funnytime with PROPOFOL!)

various xray and sonography sessions & other tests

poke hole in chest, put camera inside & probe tissue, wait for results... still processing

drain another 1.5 liters of fluid with vacuum pump

strong painkillers

feel like a helpless dying granny

vacuum drainage done, wait to heal

feel better

stop antibiotics

wait to go home

dizziness returns

inflammation parameters high again

stronger antibiotics

pathology results still out

post to internet

feelsgoodman

Sounds terrible man, hope they fix you up good.

Also:

thx... heh yeah i'd change that but don't think it's possible with that shitty ipad here.

been at the hospital for almost two weeks now.. the terrible thing is, basically every single day someone could have come in and said either

"you can go home now, take these pills for a week and you'll be fine"

or

"sorry but you likely won't survive christmas"

but it hasn't happened. well supposedly those biopsy results should come in today which should rule out or confirm lymphoma or other cancer.... fuck man i dont want that shit. they say what i have (that effusion / inflammation) is highly uncommon in young persons (i'm 30), except if you're HIV+ or got TBC which are both negative...

...

on the upside,

i get regular visits from friends

a nice 8th story view over the city

don't have to worry about food/drink acquisition strategies

normally i would have said you have aids but you haven't so...

bad time of year for that shit. as is any time. get well soon.

thank you..

AIDS was on their list too, but yeah all the tests they did for a variety of auto-immune diseases returned negative.

i'm now mentally preparing for a malignous systemic disease diagnosis, even though no cancerous cells have been identified so far (with the pleura/lung biopsy still out) ... just high lymphocyte count & inflammation (LDH or something)... basically the docs are clueless, but if the lung specialist - who seems the most competent of them - had to bet, he'd put his money on some sort of lymphoma i think..

are they draining all that fluid out of your lungs?

yes it should be all out now...

they first punctured (punctioned?) the chest with a needle to sample the fluid (happened on day 1, removed 1.5l, which was not all of it), then they suction drained the rest and used thoracoscopy (camera and other tools poked inside the ribcage) to do biopsy and to irritate the pleura skin with talcum powder or something, to prevent further effusion.. dunno, apparently the cause for the effusion is still kickin... slow growing chestburster or whatev....

punctured is correct.

eeeew. that happened to my grandad - his lungs filling up with mysterious gloop.

anyway you seem upbeat about it all which is a great attitude to take. it doesn't sound nice all that poking around so good luck i hope it's something fixable.

The original post reads like a spam email trying to get around the spam filter.

I hope the best for you.

Hoping all the best there phling. Cancer and death are scary things... worst part about this process is not knowing. But the odds are in your favor so stay positive. I had a mildly serious cancer scare a year ago. But I feel I have come out of the experience with a lot of wisdom and appreciation for life that I never had before.

  On 12/12/2012 at 2:29 PM, compson said:

Cancer and death are scary things...

minor understatement.

Sounds horrifying. I used to get dire asthma as a kid so I can related to feeling like you can't get enough to breathe.

Good luck! Keep us posted. Cancer begone!

thanks watmm! will do my best to heal & get out of here..

i should know something very soon.... today is basically the day... biopsy results and all.. the waiting is terrible..

Best of luck man ...

putting three periods at the end of that doesn't really convey the most positive attitude

oddly I am having a doctors appointment in less than 2 hours, hopefully she doesn't find anything

Best of luck to us all.

  On 12/12/2012 at 5:12 PM, compson said:

putting three periods at the end of that doesn't really convey the most positive attitude

np, internet communication / translation sucks for emotional tone

I just know its very easy to get in bad mindsets for this kind of thing. When people treat you extra well it also can put off the opposite effect, where you think "they" know its bad news but want to make sure you don't. It's kind of like a bad acid trip.

wishing you the best, phling

feel better asap man

the results are out and, lol, it's clearly identified to be TBC which is such a relief!

also the non-contagious variety, i'll have to take some meds for some time but it's entirely curable.

thanks again watmm for holding hands in these tough hours...

wtfbbq though, where the hell in middle-europe urbania does one get infected with TBC bacillae?

good to hear. get better and throw a party!

  On 12/12/2012 at 6:21 PM, phling said:

wtfbbq though, where the hell in middle-europe urbania does one get infected with TBC bacillae?

coughs and sneezes.

good result though.

thx.. yeah party tiem :]

dunno, doctors are bedazzled by the result.. said it's really rare..... well whatev, and fuck cancer :]

That's great! I had TBC when I was a kid, rough stuff.

good luck with the healing phling!

great news I guess relative to the other possibilities!