Sunday, January 14, 2007

Friday, 12/29/06

On Friday I agreed to have a Bronchostomy done, which was huge for me!

After my Dad coded 8 times and spent a week on life support, I told Bruce and Chrissy that if I ever coded, I was willing to have paddles used on me and I was willing to have medicines used, but under NO circumstances did I ever want a tube placed down the back of my throat and/or nose!

While my Dad was on the vent, the nurses kept trying to reassure me that because of the sedatives he was on, he wouldn't remember anything later on. That did NOT reassure me at the time though. In the moment, he WAS aware of the vent and he struggled with it, and it was emotional agony for me to watch him like that.

I shocked myself when I agreed to have the Bronchostomy done, especially knowing I would be awake during it. The lung doctor's arguments for it were pretty convincing however, and I had already decided that whatever the doctors wanted me to do, to help me live, I would go along with.

The Bronchostomy showed that I have a very large tumor mass in my left lung and a smaller tumor in the windpipe to my right lung. It also showed that what I had been calling "laryngitis", is not really laryngitis. What I have is a paralyzed vocal chord, caused by enlarged lymph nodes pressing on a nerve!

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