January 18th, 2018

Sorry for the late entry, today was more taxing than the others.  When I got here I still had a cough from my December cold.  The doctors did a CT scan of my lungs to see what was causing the cough. It did not tell them much so I was scheduled for a "bronchial".  

The procedure was at 1:00pm so I had half the day to fret about it. At 12:30 a lady with a gourney arrived at my door.  I told her I would rather walk.  This took her by surprise but my nurse agreed that walking is good for me.  So Karen and I followed the gourney thru the hospital to the lung department.  When we walked in with an empty gourney and a guy wheeling a pole full of IV bags, all the nurses and doctors stopped to stare.  Seemed normal to me, but must not have too many walk-ins.  

The proceedure involves numbing my throat so they can slide a camera into my lungs....crazy thought. After a half hour of getting me ready, they took me to the room where the proceedure would take place.    Numbing my throat was the worst part. They numb then test your gag flex with a fancy stick.  Having you gag reflex tested over and over and you gag each time sucks!  Finally I was gag-free!  It feels like someone left a sock rolled up in your wind pipe, you cannot swallow, very unnerving.

I was mildly sadated, but I was able to watch the camera go past my vocal cords, down my throat, and then see the branch to my left lung and right lung.  The doctor went left.  Crazy to get a tour of your own lungs in high def tv.  Once the Camera would go no further, it was equipped to shoot out some saline into my lung and then retrieve most of it.  These are the samples they wanted so they could be sent to the lab for testing.  The lab results will take a few days to get back.

I walked into the lung shop, but they would not me walk back.  Probably for the best since I was still a little doped up.  The proceedure had irritated my cough all over again and it took hours to get it calmed back down.  This is why the post is late.