After being wheeled into radiology, I met with the doctor who was going to drain the abscess and leave a drain there so that it could continue to drain aver the coming weeks. Doc C was a serious yet comforting fellow. He explained that I would be given "twilight" anesthesia (the kind you are give with a colonoscopy). Having gone through this procedure a few times in the past, I assumed that I would be essentially asleep.
I was wheeled into the CT scan room and asked to climb up onto the CT machine gurney face down with my head toward the machine. I was then asked to place my hands over my head, sort of like I was diving through the machine. I was then hooked up to heart monitors and given a local anesthesia for the area he was about to drain from. After that, I was given the "twilight" anesthesia in my IV line.
A few moments later, I noticed that, although relaxed, I was still wide awake.
They asked, "How are you feeling?".
I responded, "Wide awake, just reading the printing on the boxes stacked against the wall in front of me".
Doc C said, "Let me know if you feel any pain."
Amazingly, I did not. I did feel some pushing and pressure in the area of my liver, sort of like someone was holding my liver in their hand and moving is about some. But there really was not any pain. As I laid there face down, I could hear the doctors comment that they were removing a good bit of abscess fluid. And in very short order, they were done removing the fluid. In the same place that they used a large syringe to remove fluid, they places a plastic tube as a drain to allow the abscess to continue to drain. The drain comes out of my back and connects to a longer tube that runs to a drain pouch that I hand down on my leg on my right side.
I can say that once they drained the area inside my liver, I felt immediately stronger and my fever went down dramatically. It was really uncanny the difference. In fact, when I called to Sara who was in the waiting area just outside the CT scan room, I could hear my voice sounded much stronger and clearer.
Once the local anesthesia wore off, the pain really began. I found that there really is not a comfortable position, except slumped forward in a chair, that can accommodate a drain tube in your back. Laying on your back causes spasms that make it near impossible to breathe. Lying on your side is comfortable for very short periods of time until your back seizes up and again the spasms start. Lying on your stomach works best but again is only good for about half and how before the spasms begin and you need to get up and stretch in a chair.
I realize that this must sound like kvetching. After all, my life was saved by this procedure. And to a certain extent, I am kvetching. But I am trying to be honest about both the positive and negatives of this experience and I would not be true to the experience without relaying the overwhelming pain and spasms that are part of this recovery. It is the one thing that I cannot get away from and it interrupts my sleeping, breathing, eating, laughing, burping, coughing and my ability to move. Imagine that you are just breathing in and someone punches you hard in the gut knocking the breath from you; that is very close to the experience I feel. And these spasms seemingly come and go on their own (but are generally worst after having laid down to rest for some length of time).
The first day after having the drain in, a good bit of "fluid" fulled the drain pouch. It was sort of the consistency and color of V8 juice with a goodly amount of Worcestershire sauce added, the color of a Bloody Mary. The nurse came in, drained the pouch, measured the fluid and flushed saline into the line that ran to my liver to keep the line clear. As the days went on, the liquid became more and more clear and a lighter color, more like strawberry Juicy Juice. In addition, my fever went from around 100 degrees down to normal in the next two days. From here, it was just a matter of time till the doctors would do another CT scan of the area to determine whether the abscess had shrunk.
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