I finally had a bronchoscope on Friday. The procedure was done in the new U of C Center for Care & Discovery which opened three months ago. We arrived at the new building and proceeded to the 7th floor reception area appropriately named the “Sky Lobby”. OMG – it’s the size of a football field and all glass with a view that overlooks the city. The area is broken into different areas by walls of glass so you feel like you’re in a smaller area but can see the view no matter where you sit. Each area is broken up into sections with chairs, sofas and lamps. They have a Starbucks and believe it or not a Wolfgang Pucks!! You feel like you’re in an upscale hotel complete with a grand piano. Once we checked in with the receptionist we were handed a buzzer like you get at a restaurant. When the buzzer goes off you go back to the receptionist and are assigned a personal escort who brings you down to pre-op. Mark was able to come down while I was checked into my assigned area and they took vitals and hooked up my IV. Once they were ready for me I was on my way to the procedure suite and Mark headed back to the Sky Lobby with his buzzer to wait until it buzzed again for him to be escorted back down to post-op.
Compared to the old procedure suites (notice they no longer call them operating rooms) these are amazing. They are four times bigger and much brighter. There are about six flat screen monitors all around the room to watch the patient and record the procedure.
I really like the doctor who did the procedure. Easy to talk to and understand. I jokingly asked him if he ever had a bronchoscope and he proceeded to tell me that he actually gave himself one to see what it was like so he understood what the patients were talking about when they described it to him. He did say he stopped short and only went up to his vocal cords since he was alone when he did it.
Well as expected the anesthesia they gave me didn’t work too well. The nurse gave it to me and asked if I felt anything. My response was no. She gave me more and asked again if I felt anything and again I said no but added "give me lots of drugs!!!!" They thought that was funny and gave me a little more. Still not much happening but they started. To tell you the truth they had numbed the nasal passage and throat so all I felt was pressure but no pain. It just felt strange. In fact I told the doctor it itched. I was able to watch it on one of the overhead screens when the docs head wasn’t in the way. At one point the nurse mentioned I was trying to see the screen but his head was in the way and he moved and knocked his head into the screen. Seemed funnier then…….
The only uncomfortable part was when they inserted 150ml of water into the lung and he used what looked like a tiny bottle brush to scrape cells from the interior of the lung. They then suctioned it up so they can grow it and check for viral, bacterial or fungal infections. I felt a choking sensation and had to cough which they warned would happen. Unfortunately they were only able to suck up 50ml of fluid and the balance will hang around for about a week before it’s gone. Until then I have coughing/chocking jags every so often.
I was able to talk to the doctor right after the procedure and he said everything looked normal. No masses, fluid, etc. It’s going to take about a week to grow the cells they removed so we won’t know anything until next week.
Post-Op
Next up is chemo this today which I hope goes smoothly (LOL).
Besides that did I mention that I have another lump on my head where the last lesion was three years ago? If you remember I had radiation which destroyed the cancer and only left evidence of medical treatment. My doctor thinks it may be from the radiation but it seems funny it would just pop up now. Anyway I have a Brain MRI scheduled for June 7th. There’s always something happening…..
Until I have more to report….
Keep on Dancin”
