Pleurx Tube

We were up at 5 a.m. Friday, so we could ready ourselves and be at the PCMH Outpatient Clinic by 6.  We arrived in plenty of time, no traffic and plenty of parking near the entrance.  When we arrived, we were checked in and quickly taken to the procedure room.

Since his diagnosis, he has had problems with fluid accumulation in his chest.  He has had that fluid from beneath his left lung removed twice.  A radiologist uses an ultrasound machine to locate the fluid.  Then, they poke a hole, insert a vacuum tube and remove the fluid.  Of course, this is a painful procedure that is done with local anesthetics.  After the fluid is removed, he usually feels much better, but it can take time for the lungs to completely re-inflate.  That is due to lung alveoli being compressed and beginning the process of growing together.  It is the body's way of trying to repair itself.

After the second round of fluid removal, he then became eligible for a Pleurx drain.  I will call it a 'spigot', because I will be able to turn it on and off.  But anyway, back to Friday morning and plans to put the spigot in place.  As I said, we arrived at 6 a.m. ready for the procedure.  John hadn't had anything to eat or drink since the night before, as directed.  By 9:30, we were still waiting!  I went out to the main desk and checked to see if maybe they had forgotten about us...I mean, they did tell us to be there at 6!  We did our part.

Around 10:00, they came to get John and wheeled him back to the operating room.  I went with him and stayed till the surgeon came to answer any questions we might have.  While waiting, we did get to chat with Dana.  Dana is a dear friend of Katherine, sweet daughter of our friends, Charlie and Joan.  We watched Dana grow up into a beautiful young lady and it was ever so nice to see her in a job that helps people.

John and I had talked to Dana and her husband at an ECU baseball game in the spring.  Seems her husband works at the same hospital, with the same doctor, that John's mother, Margaret, who was a nurse, worked with many, many, years ago.  John's mother died of breast cancer at the age of 58, in 1977, just before our oldest daughter, Meredith was born.  I was so swollen and pregnant the day of her funeral, I could barely get shoes on and remember riding to the service in the back seat of the car that hot summer day with my feet propped up hoping they would not get any bigger.

Our short visit with Dana was soon over and John was taken in for the procedure.  For this event, he would not be completely put to sleep, sort of in LaLa Land, like when you have a colonoscopy.  So, I knew he would be back to the room in about an hour.

I gave him a kiss, told him I loved him, and rubbed his "monkey hair" (what I call his hair now that it has thinned from the chemo).  Then back to the room to wait.  In about 10 minutes, the doctor came in.  I knew it was too soon for him to be back and I didn't like the look on her face.  She told me, "There was a serious problem, something had gone terribly wrong and John's heartbeat had surged to 180 beats per minute.   The procedure was put on hold and he had been whisked to the Emergency Room."

It took me a minute to process what she had just said.  I was sitting there waiting for John to come back....fixed and ready to go home!  All kinds of thoughts rushed through my mind.

She walked me over to ER and the well trained folks there were working on him and already administering a drug that would slow his heart beat.  And it did.  The rate dropped like a rock.  John of course was feeling fine during all of this but the monitors showed there was a problem.

To be continued....

PCQ