My mom met with her doctor today to follow up on the biopsy she had last Tuesday. They weren't able to tell what is going on, but it's not cancer, it's not TB, it's not a tumor...but they don't know what it is.
What they do know is that she has some kind of crap in her lungs, specifically causing problems with blocking her alveoli, and her oxygen is compromised to the point where she will need O2 soon if things don't change. She can't even walk to her mailbox anymore without gasping for air.
She sees a surgeon tomorrow for a consult and will have an actual piece of lung tissue removed either Wed. or Fri. to try to determine more clearly what is going on, since we know what is not going on. They have to deflate her lung and put in a chest tube and she is quite unhappy. It may take her lung a few days to reinflate because of her O2 problems, so she will be in the hospital for several days at least.
I'm anxious but she is a walking disaster and has been for years, and manages to keep bouncing back. At some point, I'll have to face her mortality and figure out what to do with without her as my foil, but hopefully not quite yet.
2 comments:
My sympathies. It's scary.
Went through something with my brother a few years ago where they found that his lungs were seriously scarred--why's never been identified, but it got into an ongoing inflammation for... years. It's controlled now. He even recovered more lung capacity than they thought he might (actually, the doctor thought he was about to be a candidate for lung transplants... eeek!). So he's ok, and active even. But not 100% and never will be and has to keep an eye on it.
Lung problems are scary. I think that's because it's the most basic need--breath, air.
Good wishes!
Thanks for your thoughts. She has an auto-immune disorder, which can cause lung problems similar to pulmonary fibrosis, but unfortunately, the medication that they would normally use to treat it (steroids), is something she's been on long-term and just went off of...so either it wasn't working, or she needs to be on something stronger, which interferes with other things, like her diabetes. :::sigh:::
I doubt my mom would be a good candidate for a lung transplant, but hopefully it won't come to that.
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