Adventures in the x-ray lab
Oct. 6th, 2003 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hel_anaWent to have the FNA for biopsy number two today, this time in the x-ray lab of the hospital my mother works at. (The fact that it was at mom's hospital is a good thing, cause it meant I got free parking, which is always a plus when dealing with those extortionists that hospitals hire to set their parking prices.)
Edited: Sorry to those of you who have me as a friend... I didn't realize how long this was.
Those who have actually remained awake during the thyroid story thus far will know that I had to have a second biopsy to get the crunchy bits in the lump. To sum up: because it's a mixed crunchy/fluid cyst (where the crunchy bits are the area of concern) and it's, well, you know, *inside* the protective layer of my opaque skin, my surgeon only got fluid the first time.
Fortunately for me, we have *technology*.. in this case, a magic box that shows pictures of the inside of my body when the wizard holds a magic wand to my neck. Ok fine.. it was an ultrasound.
Those of you who've been following the story from the beginning may remember that I had an ultrasound on the thing almost immediately after it was found. This time, I got to combine the two proceedures (FNA and ultrasound) into an ... wait for it... ultrasound guided FNA.
In contrast to the first one, done in my surgeon's office by him with no assistance, this proceedure requires:
Plus, this time, because the screen was pointed at the doctor holding the needle, I actually got to see the screen and thus the lump. And I have to tell you that I'm glad I had my glasses off, because it was disturbing enough to see a pointy needle on the screen when it was all blurry.
So I have marks on my neck from the four needles they stuck in me, and it hurts to turn my head to the right. They said I was a really good patient, and seemed taken aback at the fact that I was making jokes about the whole thing... I figure that if I can't laugh at the whole thing, I might as well give up now.
I get the results on the 20th, but seriously, now that the actual proceedure is over, the only thing I'm really concerned about is getting to the airport on time tomorrow night to pick up Ross.
Edited: Sorry to those of you who have me as a friend... I didn't realize how long this was.
Those who have actually remained awake during the thyroid story thus far will know that I had to have a second biopsy to get the crunchy bits in the lump. To sum up: because it's a mixed crunchy/fluid cyst (where the crunchy bits are the area of concern) and it's, well, you know, *inside* the protective layer of my opaque skin, my surgeon only got fluid the first time.
Fortunately for me, we have *technology*.. in this case, a magic box that shows pictures of the inside of my body when the wizard holds a magic wand to my neck. Ok fine.. it was an ultrasound.
Those of you who've been following the story from the beginning may remember that I had an ultrasound on the thing almost immediately after it was found. This time, I got to combine the two proceedures (FNA and ultrasound) into an ... wait for it... ultrasound guided FNA.
In contrast to the first one, done in my surgeon's office by him with no assistance, this proceedure requires:
- a big six inch high chunk of foam under the shoulderblades to hyperextend the neck. I was very good; I didn't point out that if my back was any more arched, I expected at least one orgasm.
- an ultrasound tech (not surprising, really) - mine was cute in a sort of "way more eyebrow than is strictly required" kind of way. He also didn't get my "when you have a thyroid scan, they don't show you the screen and say 'and *here's* your lump'" joke... I got treated to a discussion of ultrasound technician ethics.
- a radiologist. he wielded the needles. Not much to say there. He opted to freeze the insertion site, though since that hurts more than the actual aspiration, I'm really not sure what the point is.
- a nurse - very very nice, and her main function seemed to be to keep me calm. She hugged me after I'd gotten dressed and was saying goodbye.
- a lab tech. She was there to run the samples they took down to the lab, put them under a microscope, and determine whether enough cells had been garnered. There were. If there hadn't been, they would have tried again. The net result was that I spent about 15 minutes chatting with ultrasound boy about computers and what motivates hackers and virus writers.
Plus, this time, because the screen was pointed at the doctor holding the needle, I actually got to see the screen and thus the lump. And I have to tell you that I'm glad I had my glasses off, because it was disturbing enough to see a pointy needle on the screen when it was all blurry.
So I have marks on my neck from the four needles they stuck in me, and it hurts to turn my head to the right. They said I was a really good patient, and seemed taken aback at the fact that I was making jokes about the whole thing... I figure that if I can't laugh at the whole thing, I might as well give up now.
I get the results on the 20th, but seriously, now that the actual proceedure is over, the only thing I'm really concerned about is getting to the airport on time tomorrow night to pick up Ross.
