Chained to the IV Pole

Well, things went way worse that I had imagined them. It turns out there is a very real reason to fear a person who wants to stick needles deep inside you body.

The MRI went just fine...I lived. It was unpleasant, but I made it. Then it came time for the biopsy. I had an IV line in...but I was not hooked to any kind of drip. The doc decided to do the biopsy guided by the CT machine. I had to lay on my stomach since the mass was on the backside of my liver. Apparently my blood pressure was "too low" for them to gave me much sedation for fear that I would bottom out.

I was completely awake for the entire procedure...which was NOT a good thing. I felt the first needle that they used to numb me. They sent the first sample to the lab real quick to see if they got enough tissue to study. It turned out to be only blood.....so they had to try AGAIN.....AGAIN with me completely wide awake.

The doc numbed me a second time and then went after it with the biopsy needle. With the second biopsy attempt he drew out pus.....25ccs of nothing but pus. I believe that the doc freaked a bit at that point and realized that he had just lanced an abscess on one of my internal organs. He put in a drain....with me still completely wide awake and feeling everything. Let's just say that there were lots and lots of tears involved. It was the single most horrifying thing I have been through in my whole life....and it would be hard to top it.

Only minutes after that I was shipped to recovery and they quickly administered IV antibiotics. It took several hours to really get my pain under control. Right now I am taking Dilaudid for pain and a muscle relaxer to control my spasams. They plan to keep me in the hospital until Tuesday at the very earliest. When I am released it will most likely be with a pic line an a pump to deliver even more antibiotics for the next 3-6 weeks.

I am a human pin cushin right now too. They are doing multiple blood draws a day to culture and insure that the infection does not spread. All in all I am getting really good care. The doctors have been great(except for the idiot that did my biopsy) The nurses are spectacular, and the food leaves much to be desired.

I will recover from this. Right now I am just grateful to be alive. This could have been so much worse. I can't even imagine. I must have a guardian angel. I am very blessed.

For more info about what I have going on check out this link.
http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic1316.htm

"Untreated, pyogenic liver abscess remains uniformly fatal. With timely administration of antibiotics and drainage procedures, mortality currently occurs in 5-30% of cases. The most common causes of death include sepsis, multiorgan failure, and hepatic failure."

Keep those prayers coming....I still need it big time.