Sealed Up and Healing

So the combination of drugs they gave me let me sleep OK Tuesday night, even with the hose attached to me. Wednesday was spent mostly in a daze with me asking a lot of questions because I had severe memory lapses of Tuesday. I was told that I should be happy I didn't remember most of what happened and I'm OK with that. Sometimes not knowing is better, but I did learn that the technical name of my condition is a pnuemothorax, pnuemo meaning air and thorax your chest. So I had air in my chest. Logical, isn't it? They took an X-Ray Wednesday morning that showed great improvement, the lung had come back nicely. I talked with the surgeon, not the one who worked on me but the one in charge of my care, and he said after looking at the X-
Ray that chances were good I could go home Thursday. I asked what caused my air leak and was told they did not know. Speculation was that a small tumor on the edge of the lung could have burst causing a small hole that healed quickly but that is just a guess.

Thursday morning's X-Ray showed a little more improvement so they decided that they could pull the tube out and send me home. Hooray! Now, if you think about it, you have to be careful when pulling out a chest tube, lest you allow air back in to the place you just sucked it out of. And of course the hole from the tube has to be sealed until it heals up. So they pulled the tube out while I exhaled and before I could suck air back in immediately sealed the hole with some large sticky patches which resemble tire patches only in white. So I'm sealed up better than a steel belted radial. Now that I was free of the suction devices I could be sent home so the doc signed off on my discharge. Remember last time I was waiting forever for my paperwork to be finished? I learned it wasn't a fluke. Same crap this time, we literally waited over 4 hours before we had the ok to leave. Very frustrating but we learned this time to relax and not get too steamed up as it does nothing to help. We made it home a little before 5pm and from that time on I was asleep more than I was awake. This new recliner we just selected for me is soooo comfortable! So now, Friday, I just have to relax and wait for my body to heal. I was told I can remove my "tire patches" on Saturday and fortunately they are not real uncomfortable so I'll be fine until then.

Once again - Thanks for looking in on me. I really appreciate it as always. As a way of saying thanks here's a weekend sports viewing tip for you. Saturday night is the NCAA hockey championship game featuring our very own Wisconsin Badgers against the Boston College Golden Eagles in a repeat of the teams from the 2006 championship game. Let's hope for a repeat of a Badger Victory!

We'll talk again soon, in the meantime.....
Be Well - Be Blessed!