Typette.com: CT Lung Biopsy

CT Lung Biopsy

February 23, 2007

This past wednesday (21st), I had my CT Lung biopsy. I got myself so worked up for this and was scared that if it was ANYTHING like the bone marrow biopsy, I would probably faint. They told me I had to stay awake during the procedure b/c I had to follow certain breathing instructions so my Gen. Pract. doc prescribed me some sedatives to take some of the anxiety away. I think it helped....

I got this biopsy done at NY Presbyterian and the appt was for 8 am, which means we had to leave our house no later than 6 am to make it there on time.

The radiologist was the one performing the biopsy because they had to use a CT scanner to pinpoint the right area to go in and he is the one who can read the CT scan real well..

It was a tough procedure in that I had to lay completely still in one position for 1 hour straight. One little movement and they would have to start all over from scratch. I tried my best to lay still, but since they went in through my back, I had to lay on my stomach, and any woman will tell you, it's not comfortable when you have a 'chest'... It was very hard to breath.

They injected lidocaine into my back to numb the area where the needle was going in... The MOST pain during the procedure I felt was when they injected that. It was a pinch and some burning. Not much... He must've injected me a total of 6 times during the procedure...GOOD THING.

Anyway, the doc told me that people usually do not complain of any pain from this procedure, but in some rare cases some patients feel pain in the front of their chest, and that's because the nerves wrap around from the back to the front...even though there's nothing wrong there, it still hurts. (if that makes sense)

Anyway, go figure, I had that pain, and it happened during the last 20 minutes while I was laying on the CT Table. It was quite unbearable. I'd say pain was a 9 out of 10... if it was a 10 I would've passed out completely. Knowing I had to stay completely still or go through another hour of pain, I tried my best to just try and breath through out.

Through out the test they did CT scans to make sure the needle was in place and to make sure my lung did not collapse.

They wound up having to go back in a second time, which my doc said is the average for this procedure...to make sure they have enough sample to biopsy.

Afterwards, I continued to have pain everytime I breathed in or out, it was horrible, and I was getting cold sweats and felt like i was going to pass out. I couldn't cry b/c when I tried a little the pain intensified.

After about an hour or 2 in the recovery area along with some tylenol, the pain started to fade away. Then they took another XRay to check again to make sure the lung had not collapsed.
They told me the feeling I had was the same feeling as a collapsed lung and they were concerned, but the x-rays and CT scans showed that everything was okay. I was happy to hear that, and figured I could handle the pain knowing there was nothing seriously wrong to be causing the pain. Just my damn ol' sensitivity.

When I left the hospital, the pain was about a 6 out of 10.

The following day, I was back at work, pain at a 2 out of 10...

I was shocked and amazed at how well the procedure actually went considering all my worry.

I think I have more 'pain' with procedures just because I have Fibromyalgia...

NY Presbyterian has some really good doctors and I DO trust them... it just sucks that they are so far away from me...

I should find out the results of the biopsy Monday.
(They biopsied the infiltrate fluid, they did not take a piece of my lung)...

Labels: health, lungs

posted by Typette @ 8:49 PM

3 Comments:

At April 14, 2009 at 4:24 PM, Anonymous said…

I HAD SIMILAR LUNG biopsy March 5 and pain is still with me every day. They can't explain it even after 4 CT Scans & just give me Vicodin for the pain. Ever hear of this happening to anyone else and how they cured it??? Pain runs 5 to 7 without meds, every day and night. pete at tunbridgevt dot com
At April 1, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Anonymous said…

My husband had VATS procedure for right pleural effusion three weeks ago and is still in a lot of pain. The biopsy showed no cancer and we still dont know what caused the fluid although he had started statins two months prior to this he has stopped them now, he is very week and stressed by it all.
At April 1, 2011 at 4:47 PM, Typette said…

This blog hasn't been active for awhile, but I just got notification of a comment.

I'm sorry your husband is experiencing this pain. I had dealt with this 'thing' in my lungs for about 3 years before coming to NO conclusion by the doctors. It's still a mystery, but it has reduced in size so they aren't as concerned as they used to be.

I can understand the nerve pain still being bad, and would ask to see someone who specializes in those types of things -- I'm not sure what kind of doctor. The pain can be pretty horrific, and I sometimes think doctors don't believe patients when they tell them how much something hurts or bothers them. Alas, I've gone through many doctors over the years and finding my favorites was hard, but necessary.

I hope your husband gets diagnosed and well soon.