Pleural Catheder/Hospital Stay and other fun stuff

Looking for a Romantic idea for date night with your spouse? Try draining fluids from your chest cavity together, it doesn't get any more romantic than that, you can even include the kids, although they think it is pretty gross. On Friday we drained off anohter1-liter bring the total so far to 9 liters. (More on this later).
Early Saturday morning I woke up in a lot of pain, headache, neck ache, and pain in my chest and left side. This was not a major concern immediately, as I was still recovering from the Pleural Catherder insertion so I took some pain killers and went back to bed. I was up two more times that night in pain an trying different pain killers was not working. About 6 am I woke up Monica and told her I had a problem. We decided to try a Vicodin. Again no response. We started to discuss calling the doctor. As we discussed out options I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, had a fever and was very very dizzy and a light headed. I headed for the bathroom as I felt nauseous but I only made half way there be I colpased to the floor and was out cold. Fortunately Monica was there to catch me and guide me to floor. Apparently I was out for few minutes. I don't remember falling or anything that happened in the few minutes that I was out. Monica quickly measured my blood/oxygen levels and immediately put me on oxygen. When I came to, I was feeling a bit better an wondering why I was laying on the floor. We made a quick call to my doctor a he told us to get to the hospital right away. We prepared the kids to be by themselves for a couple of hours, and we left. I was coherent but very weak and wozzy, and in a lot of pain. We spent about 12 hours in the ER. They were pumping me full of Morphin and other pain killers to mitigate the pain, but they only seemed to work temporarily and then the pain would be right back. They took two CT scans, one of my head, the other of my chest. They decided to take more fluids off my lungs (they took off 0.7 liters this time). My blood pressure was very low and they could not get it up to acceptable levels. They started me on antibiotics thinking it was some sort of infection, blood test results were still pending. After 12 hours they finally got me a room in the Cardoivascular Unit. A downgrade from the ICU unit where they originally wanted to put me. The bed was much better there. The antibiotics and the pain killers were finally starting to work and I was feeling a bit better. The hometeachers came by and gave a blessing. We arranged for the kids to stay with friends Saturday evening and Monica planned to stay with me in my hospital room that night. Just as the home teachers left the fire alarm in the hospital went off, that was an alarming few minutes as I wondered if I would need to run bare-butted into the parking lot or not. I was feeling better by the minute and as Sunday came around my hometeacher came back with the Bishop and he commented on how much better I looked. Still very tired and still with very low blood pressure, my shortness of breath was exaserbated. We took off anohter 0.4 liters for fluids from my lungs. We did more blood tests, a heart scan, and received consults from a lung doctor. My oncologist stopped by daily with update reports. The final blood test showed that the infection was likely surfactal, meaning it did not come from the fluids, but from the outside in. The antibiotics are working well and winning the battle. They let me out of the hospital Monday afternoon. I will be on bed rest for couple of days. In general I feel much better, the pain is nearly all gone. My blood/oxygen levels and looking better, but I still have headaches, although that could be a separate issue. The lung doctor recommended taking off more fluids daily over the next few days, so we took of another 0.5 liters last night. (That brings the total to 10.6 liters removed since November of last year for those you that are keeping track. Some quick math shows the following.

Fluid removal:
Total removed so far: 10.6 liters.
Average amount removed per day 0.07 liters.
Average amount removed per week 0.522 liters.
Average amount removed per month 2.23 liters.
Extrapolating forward:
Average amount removed per year 26.57 liters

That's alot of fluids.

It was an exciting weekend. A bit too exciting, for my liking. But as I like to say it builds character right?

Thanks to all those that helped with the kids this weekend and to all those that wanted to help but did not get the chance.

Take care, I hope you are all well. -Eric

Pleural Catheter

I had a pleural catheter inserted yesterday. The catheter was inserted in my left side about half way down my chest and it comes out just above my waist. The intent is that now we can drain excess fluids from the pleural area at home, rather than making frequent visits to the hospital for additional thorancentisis procedures. The insertion of the catheter went well. However now that the drugs have worn off, I am in some pain. Moving around is tough since every movement seems to affect the torso. Hopefully things will heal quickly. In testing out the new catheter they removed 1-liter of fluids, so I think the total amount removed over the last 4 months is up to 7-liters. Monica was trained at the hospital on how to do the fluid extraction so she will take on the new role as in-home nurse, although she has already been doing this anyway, it's just one more thing for her to do. I am starting to feel a bit artificial. I have an implant in my throat to help me talk, a port in my chest to insert fluids, and a catheter in my chest to extract other fluids. I am just missing an on/off button. Take care. -Eric