Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) imaging is commonly used to evaluate and aid in the biopsy of mediastinal lymph nodes.
I have no clue what that first sentence means, but in my case, it means they went down my throat in order to biopsy amass that was found in my chest. Once they completed the PET/CT scans, they found two separate masses in my lungs. One of the masses was bigger than a lime and the other was much smaller.
The night before the biopsy, I had to stop smoking, eating, and drinking at midnight. Believe it or not, going without water was more of an issue than I thought! I’ll admit that I cheated a little bit and took probably four or five tiny sips of water. I found that rinsing my mouth out with water helped quite a bit.
Once my wife and I got to the hospital, they eventually took me to a room where they put an IV in my hand.
The anesthesiologist came in and asked me a bunch of questions about my past and current health. Since I haven’t been to a doctor since I was a kid, the only real concern was that every once in a while, I go into Atrial fibrillation, also called AFib.
Although I’ve never been officially diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation, I know what it is, and it happens once or twice a week.
This concerned the anesthesiologist and he ordered an EKG just to be on the safe side. Wanting me to know the risks, he indicated that I was already at risk of stroke because of the biopsy procedure, but said if for some reason I had an AFib episode during the biopsy procedure, it would double my risk.
The EKG went pretty quickly and turned out to be sinus rhythm, which is normal.
They wheeled me into the operating room and laid me flat in the bed. The anesthesiologist put an oxygen mask on my face and have me take deep breaths. He said they wanted my lungs to be filled with pure oxygen as much as possible.
That’s about the last thing I remember!
The next thing I know, I’m being moved to a recovery room. They said I needed to be there for about an hour. The nurse stayed with me the whole time. The most uncomfortable part was that I could not quit coughing! At first, she gave me a piece of ice and then she got me a cup of water. It didn’t really help much. I must have coughed for the whole hour and then some!
Once the hour was up, she wheeled me to the original room I was in. She called my wife Denise and told her she would come to get her.
For the next hour, the coughing seemed to slowly go away, but for some reason, I couldn’t stop sweating! I was literally sweating so much that my bed was soaked!
Usually, the only time I sweat like that is when I’m breaking a fever. Or working in a hot warehouse!
I was finally able to get dressed. Standing up wasn’t much of an issue. I didn’t feel dizzy or anything at first. Denise went and got the truck as they wheeled me down.
My biggest relief came when I was able to finally get something to drink and eat at home! Denise and I stopped and got some Chinese food to take home. I was so hungry, I even had two plates!!!
We had ice cream afterwards… Doctors orders!
All in all, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve experienced so far. I have lots of people praying for me, and I could feel their prayers throughout the whole experience!
As a side note, when somebody says, “All I can really do is pray,” my response is always, “That means more to me than you will ever know!”
Thank you, God, for your protection, your guidance of the hands that performed the biopsy, and your constant reminder that You love me! Thank you for Denise… the color in my black-and-white world. Thank you for Brittany and Amber! Thank you for those who took the time to pray for me!
Most of all, thank you, God, for just being there for me!
