Liver Biopsy
Today was the big biopsy day, something I was very anxious about and not at all looking forward to. I'm so glad that it's all done with and now I just have to wait for results (I should get them next Wednesday when I see my oncologist). Here is recap of what the week has been like and today's procedure...
Wednesday I went in for my 13th round of chemo. I got my blood drawn (counts looked great), got my pre-meds, and then my nurse decided to call my doctor to see if I needed to get another shot of Procrit. Well when she called she happened to mention that I was scheduled to have my liver biopsy on Friday and immediately my doctor said I wouldn't be able to have chemo. I guess it would be too risky to have the biopsy so close to treatment, especially when this chemo affects your liver. So after a few hours of waiting I ended up going home dissapointed. My chemo was rescheduled for this coming Wednesday 4/13.
By 6:30am today I was at Stanford awaiting my liver biopsy. Again they took blood counts, had the doctor doing the procedure come in to tell me the risks, and then finally I went into the procedure room around 9:30am. I was told I was not going to get any type of sedation or anesthesia so of course I was hysterical and crying the whole way as I was being wheeled in. Luckily once we got to the CT room the nurse working there recognized me from all the previous times I've had CT's done there and told me she would give me a little something (a generic form of morphine) so that made me feel a little better. The procedure itself lasted about 45 minutes with the needle being in me for about 30 minutes. I was awake and aware of everything that was happening (even with the narcotics) which was not very pleasant. Because of the location of the mass they went in right in the middle of my chest and had to go through bone and I could hear/feel the crackling everytime they pushed the needle deeper. I also saw the mass on the monitor that they had and watched as the needle went in and got the samples. They took about five fluid samples and six cuts (they actually cut little microscopic pieces of liver). I can't say the procedure was as painful as the bone marrow biopsies I've had in the past, but it was definitely uncomfortable and traumatizing. After the procedure I was in recovery for about four hours and then I was discharged. Just when Chris and I were getting home I started to have really severe rigors and then I spiked a fever of close to 104F. Just after two hours of being home I had to go back to the hospital and we were sure I was going to be admitted, but somehow the doctor on-call didn't think it was necessary as long as my fever was being controlled with Tylenol. Tonight I feel pretty good, I wouldn't even know I had anything done if it wasn't for the bandage in the middle of my chest. Now of course it's just the anticipation of getting the results on Wednesday, that's definitely never easy.
So no skiing again this weekend, hopefully we will get to go back up before all the ski resorts close down for the season.
Wednesday I went in for my 13th round of chemo. I got my blood drawn (counts looked great), got my pre-meds, and then my nurse decided to call my doctor to see if I needed to get another shot of Procrit. Well when she called she happened to mention that I was scheduled to have my liver biopsy on Friday and immediately my doctor said I wouldn't be able to have chemo. I guess it would be too risky to have the biopsy so close to treatment, especially when this chemo affects your liver. So after a few hours of waiting I ended up going home dissapointed. My chemo was rescheduled for this coming Wednesday 4/13.
By 6:30am today I was at Stanford awaiting my liver biopsy. Again they took blood counts, had the doctor doing the procedure come in to tell me the risks, and then finally I went into the procedure room around 9:30am. I was told I was not going to get any type of sedation or anesthesia so of course I was hysterical and crying the whole way as I was being wheeled in. Luckily once we got to the CT room the nurse working there recognized me from all the previous times I've had CT's done there and told me she would give me a little something (a generic form of morphine) so that made me feel a little better. The procedure itself lasted about 45 minutes with the needle being in me for about 30 minutes. I was awake and aware of everything that was happening (even with the narcotics) which was not very pleasant. Because of the location of the mass they went in right in the middle of my chest and had to go through bone and I could hear/feel the crackling everytime they pushed the needle deeper. I also saw the mass on the monitor that they had and watched as the needle went in and got the samples. They took about five fluid samples and six cuts (they actually cut little microscopic pieces of liver). I can't say the procedure was as painful as the bone marrow biopsies I've had in the past, but it was definitely uncomfortable and traumatizing. After the procedure I was in recovery for about four hours and then I was discharged. Just when Chris and I were getting home I started to have really severe rigors and then I spiked a fever of close to 104F. Just after two hours of being home I had to go back to the hospital and we were sure I was going to be admitted, but somehow the doctor on-call didn't think it was necessary as long as my fever was being controlled with Tylenol. Tonight I feel pretty good, I wouldn't even know I had anything done if it wasn't for the bandage in the middle of my chest. Now of course it's just the anticipation of getting the results on Wednesday, that's definitely never easy.
So no skiing again this weekend, hopefully we will get to go back up before all the ski resorts close down for the season.
posted by Erika @ 8:15 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:04 PM,
Randy said…
hey thanks for the update! What a procedure! Try and have a good rest of the weekend. Keep your head up and remember to smile!
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