I went to my doctor because I believed I had some sort of long term COVID. After a long conversation he ordered some blood work and a chest x-ray. I have had a few x-rays over the past few years chasing some sort of breathing issue. Turns out I recently learned that it’s COPD but that is a story for another post. The x-ray had a shadow that MyChart said was consistent with cancer. This was the first time that evil word was brought up. My doctor called shortly afterwards to break the news. He told me that since it didn’t show up on the last x-ray that we caught it early and that I should be OK.
He then referred me to both a surgeon and an oncologist I asked who I should see first, and he responded with whichever one contacts you first.
Read the circumstances that lead to my visit here.
I set up appointments with both the surgeon and oncologist for the same day surgeon first. I was honestly hoping that they would just cut that crap out of me and that I could get on with my life. My beautiful wife and I sat down with the surgeon, and he began discussing the procedure in depth when the room began to spin. The wife and doctor were in a discussion when this happened, so I began to wave my arm to get their attention. The doctor called for help and this particular office is attached to a hospital, so a “Code Blue” was called.
My Code Blue: I only have flashes of what was happening through this. I know someone got me lying flat and was raising my legs. At some point an IV with fluids was put in my arm. The exam room and hallway were filing with nurses and the like. I heard that someone got stuck in the elevator trying to get to me. I heard the wife telling the doctor that I didn’t eat breakfast. I never do, breakfast for me was coffee, cigarettes and now my heart medication. As I began to regain focus, I had a large man holding my legs straight up and pushing on them, a young lady was monitoring the IV in my arm and my wife was talking to the hospital Chaplin. While the doctor was standing in the corner just observing what was going on. Eventually I was able to explain that this has happened to me a few times in my life in times of extreme stress it just hasn’t happened in the last 30 years or so. I guess discussing cutting out half of one of my lungs constituted a high stress moment.
The end result of the visit was that he ordered is a CT scan with contrast because he needed to see exactly what he was dealing with. With my particular diagnosis this is soon to become a regular procedure for me. We ended up cancelling the oncologist appointment for that afternoon and going out to breakfast. At that breakfast the wife filled me in on what was going on in the room while I was passing out. We had very hope filled discussion about the potential surgery and recovery.
Next: My first CT scan:
Image courtesy of: https://www.healthline.com/health/lung-cancer/pictures#gallery-open