Lung Biopsy

I only got 3 hours of sleep last night. Amelia didn't go down till about 1a,m and then I futzed around and pumped until about 2am. I woke up at 5am to pump again and then had to get ready to go to the hospital. I needed to be there at 7am to have a blood clot test drawn before the biopsy scheduled for 9am. Ugh. Even if I wasn't sick, my lack of sleep would make me feel tired all the time.

I took 40mg of Prednisone last night because I wasn't allowed to take it before the surgery. I woke up feeling much much better than yesterday. I am amazed at the difference.

A minor problem was not being able to drink anything for 4 hours prior to the biopsy. I have a serious case of polydipsia (excessive thirst) and have been drinking about 2 gallons of water a day... maybe more. Many normal people find it difficult to drink the recommended 8 cups and I am easily putting back 32 cups a day. I think the polydipsia is related to the WG because it started about the same time as my ear problem last November. It was awful not to be able to drink for 4 hours prior to the biopsy. They let me 'swish and spit' and I walked around with a water bottle and a spit cup all morning, but it didn't help much.

The biggest problem for the day happened in the pre-op waiting area when the surgeon came in to discuss the procedure with us. I had been leery of having any lung biopsy done, but Dr. Awadh had assured us that the needle biopsy was a minor procedure. However the surgeon said, "You should be aware there is 50% chance your lung will collapse after we do this and you will be in the hospital for a couple of days with a chest tube." WHAT??? 50% chance of lung collapse isn't associated with an 'minor' procedure I have ever heard of.

I feel very mislead by Dr. Awadh. Did he really not know that there was such a high chance of a complication? If we'd known, I think we would have still agreed to do it, but we would have made arrangements in case there was a problem. As it is, we were scrambling to find somebody to take care of Amelia for the day. Me being in the hospital for another 2 days would have wrecked havoc on my mom and Ross' schedule. And yet leaving w/o getting the biopsy seemed impractical. I figured we'd end up having to come back later and that would have caused it's own problems, so we decided to go ahead with it.

In any case, my lungs are both still inflated. I do feel like somebody hit me in the back with a stick though and the 'pleurisy / muscle spasm' pain feels like it could return. I am hoping that goes away, but I have been careful not to lift Amelia or anything all afternoon.