If it can go wrong...

 If it can go wrong, it will... At least when it comes to me it seems, LOL.  Here's a quick little update for anyone interested.  I went in for my surgical biopsy last Monday (finally!!).  I was quite impressed with how things were moving along.  I got registered, and within ten minutes I was being taken back to get prepped for surgery.  The anesthesiologist wanted to try a nerve block before surgery, which is something new since the last time I had this procedure done.  He said that about seventy percent of the time a nerve block can reduce post procedural pain for twelve to sixteen hours.  With the amount of pain I had after the last VATS, I was all for it!  So he and the nurse anesthesiologist got me all marked up, and she gave me IV pain meds before he got started.  That was the last thing I remember before waking up in recovery. Usually I'm awake when they take me into the OR, so that was kinda weird, LOL.

So I wake up, see my parents sitting beside me, and the doctor was also in the room.  I remember briefly thinking, wow!  I've got no pain at all aside from my throat (and an impeding migraine), that nerve block was amazing!  Hahaha, silly Briana... The next thing I remember is hearing the doctor say the words "aborted biopsy", which would be why I had no chest pain.  So here's the fun part in a nutshell.  While I was being intubated, I ended up getting a mucosal tear from the endotracheal tube, which caused bleeding and swelling (and one hell of a sore throat).  The bronchoscopy scope that they use for the procedure is much larger, and they had a hell of a time getting it in due to the tear.  Once it was in, they closed off air flow to my left lung to see how well I would perfuse with my right lung, and my oxygen saturation dropped into the low 80s.  That's when they decided to abort the biopsy.  So, yay for me. 

There were no beds available in ICU, so I (along with two other patients) got to spend the entire night in recovery.  10 out of 10 do not recommend.  There was absolutely no privacy, and I was miserable to say the least.  They also kept me NPO (nothing by mouth) in case my airway decided it wanted to close up.  So I hadn't had anything to eat since midnight, had a killer sore throat, a migraine and horrible nausea. Fun times.  I pretty much spent the entire night either sleeping or staring at the curtain that enclosed my little space.  They finally gave the ok for food (breakfast that I couldn't swallow) in the morning, and I was discharged around 11am.

So that was a fabulous experience, and now that my throat is all healed up, I get to do it all over again tomorrow!  So fingers crossed that there are no screw ups this time around and we can get this done!!  Thanks so much for all the support!!  Hopefully my next update will be a bit more positive!! LOL ❤️🤞😃

Time for another update

Another overdue update, no way! 

I'll try to get through it without being too long winded, LOL.  I left off with a plan to go to Roswell to re-establish care and get their opinion on biopsy, which is exactly what I did.  It was nice to see some familiar faces there, although I think we all wish it was under different circumstances.  I ended up being there most of the day, between a (now standard) PT eval, blood work, and a visit with my doctor.  I didn't end up with many answers at that point, because of course they had received everything they needed from Guthrie, EXCEPT my PET scan disk.  So I was told it was being overnighted and that if I hadn't heard from them in a week, to call and follow up.  So one week later I gave them a call, and I was told that they were reviewing things that day.  Yep, sure they were, LOL.  Anyway, they called back a couple of days later and said that they recommended the dreaded CT guided needle biopsy.  Which to refresh your memory, is the one that Guthrie wouldn't do because they don't think they'll get a diagnostic result.  So I didn't quite understand why Roswell thought they'd be able to work some magic, but whatever.  I met with my local oncologist the following morning and let him know what they had told me.  He said that he thought I should go ahead and have it done by them, because even if I've got a fifty fifty shot of avoiding a surgical biopsy, I should try.  I told him I'd think about it and let him know.   Realistically, the odds of success are definitely lower than fifty percent, just FYI.

So, I thought about it (not very hard honestly) and I got ahold of my very first oncologist (the one that I think walks on water and has saved my ass multiple times) to get his opinion, also letting him know that I was leaning towards just doing the VATS (video assisted thoracic surgery) biopsy.  He agreed with me that the odds of them actually getting something diagnostic were very slim, and that I should just head straight for a surgical one.  Ultimately the decision was left up to me by both teams, and I've decided to have the VATS done.  The surgeon that did my last one (this will be my third) is still there, so I had a consult with him a few weeks ago to go over everything again.  I've probably already explained the procedure before, but I'll explain it again just for the hell of it, LOL.  Basically, they go in between my ribs on my left side and deflate my left lung to get to the mass to take samples of it.  If all goes well it should just be one night in the hospital because they have to leave a chest tube in post op.  There is the potential for complications due to previous radiation to my chest, and adhesions (scar tissue) due to the previous biopsies, which could include a thoracotomy (larger incision) or lung adhesions, potentially increasing my one night stay to 5-7 days.  But it wasn't an issue last time, so hopefully it won't be an issue this time either.  Anyway... It's scheduled for Monday June 13. 

As far as the game plan after biopsy, it of course depends on the results.  They will be checking to see if my lymphoma is positive for CD-30 markers along with confirming that it's still Hodgkin's and not a secondary type of cancer (very slim risk due to the way it's presenting).  If it's CD-30 pos, I may be eligible for a clinical trial that they're putting together at Roswell.  It's a trial for CAR-T cell therapy .  While I'm not really keen on the idea of being a guinea pig, an Allogeneic stem cell transplant is not on my list of things I want to do, pretty much ever, so my options are limited.  There's always the option of just going back on immunotherapy, but my doctor at Roswell is not optimistic that it will keep working for me.  Le sigh.

Well, so much for not being long winded LOL.  If you've stuck with me to the end of this, thanks!  I'd appreciate some positive vibes and happy thoughts being sent my way next week!  I'll probably be doing more frequent updates on TikTok if you follow me there (@brianatknits), but the more in-depth (but less frequent) updates will be here.  Thanks for much for your support!!  I really appreciate it!!  ❤️❤️❤️