Gut Punch

What's just as bad as hearing you have cancer?  Well, one answer is being told your cancer has come back.   

I have been having night sweats to varying degrees since my chemotherapy stopped back in 2019.  A PET scan was done early on showing no real uptake in the cells; so it wasn't likely from any lingering cancer.  A test taken after that did show I had low testosterone levels most likley produced by the chemotherapy I had taken.  Night sweats can be a symptom of low T.  Hence, as testosterone levels improved over time night sweats would diminish, or I could opt for various treatments for low T. 

Jump to April 2021, and I was still experiencing night sweats.  After an appointment with the oncologist on April 30th, she ordered a PET scan to help ease any fears of a relapse.  The insurance company opted instead for a CT scan on May 17 as a cheaper option.  It showed some issues in the neck and abdomen, so a PET scan was ordered for May 28.  It wasn't until June 1 that I got the call from the oncologist that the cells in those areas were active and most likely my Hodgkin Lymphoma had returned - the gut punch.  A biopsy would be needed to determine exactly what I had though.  

I met with the thoracic surgeon who had done my last biopsy.  During the appointment, she let it be known that the mediastinal biopsy performed last time was too risky to do this time because of the scar tissue that had formed from the last one.  This biopsy would involve VATS through the back to get to the infected lymph nodes in the chest.  A relatively simple procedure with a long recovery period  due to  the nerve and muscle damage.

I was scheduled to have the biopsy done June 17 at 3:45pm but was wanted at the hospital at 2pm.  On my way to the hospital from work, I received a phone call from the surgeon's secretary that the surgeon wasn't up to doing the biopsy after working all night on an emergency operation.  She would like her associate to do it.  If I wasn't comfortable with that option, we could reschedule.  I said to go with the associate.  

From 2 to 4 pm, Tammy and I waited in the lobby to be called to the pre-op area.  Once there, the only thing of note was the amount of work it took for 3 nurses to get a good vein for the IV.  Around 6pm, I was finally wheeled into the operating room where I was put to sleep.

I began waking up in the recovery room at 9:07 pm.  It was a weird sensation.  My mind was active but nothing else worked.  It's like your trapped in a world where you can only watch and not participate.  I truthfully remember nothing other than that from the recovery room.  The next time I woke up around 10:30 pm, I was in my hospital room where I would spend the night so my chest tube could be monitored.

(Tammy had stayed at the hospital the whole time since we had parted at 4 pm.  She kept busy doing some work at the EP lab until she was able to come for a short visit in my hospital room.)

This was only my second hospital stay.  The other being when I was around five for tonsils. My first sensations upon now being awake and alert were ones of hunger from lack of food since 3 am that day and a very sore throat from the breathing tube used during the biopsy.  I was told no food until the morning as I was on a clear liquid only diet.  I was given ice chips for the hunger.  I ate two cups of it.  It didn't help the hunger one bit, but it did help the sore throat.  

Around 1:30 am, I feel asleep after a trip to the bathroom that earned me the alias 'dizzy patient' as I had trouble making it there by myself with the added fun of having trouble going once I got there.  I awoke around 5:30 am, hungrier and with a continued sore throat.  So I ate two more cups of ice with the same results as the previous night.  The ice did make me have to go to the bathroom but I wanted to make sure I really could go with no issues this time.  Well, when I knew I really had to go, I pushed the call bell.  Fifteen minutes later, someone came to help me to the bathroom.  I had no issues with going this time.  (This happened a second time where it was taking so long for someone to come I was trying to unhook everything myself so I could get to the bathroom.)

I was taken to X-ray and returned to my room where as I was eating more ice chips, the nurse informed me that I was now on an ordinary diet.  I replied to her, well I don't see any of that food.  Still never saw any food until 8:30 am when the breakfast tray was delivered.  As I was finishing up the tray, Elaine brought me up a bag of PBJ, cup of strawberries, and chocolate milk.  I went from famine to feast.   Unfortunately, I ate it so fast it lead to later issues of trapped air in my belly and intestines -- aka gas pains.

As I was getting ready to wash up. transport came to take me to X-ray.  After being wheeled down and quickly taken in for my two minutes of X-rays, I was left in the hallway a good 15 minutes waiting for transport to come take me back.  When I got back, Tammy had gotten to my room.  We were informed the earlier X-rays looked good so the chest tube would be taken out (which it was around noon), another set of X-rays would be taken (with a twenty minute wait this time in the hallway to be taken back to my room), and then discharged (wheeled out of the hospital at around 2 pm).