Workup Week - Day 2

Well on to day two.

Today I was only able to have a light breakfast because I was scheduled for a bronchoscopy. Oh well, I was already nauseated when I woke up anyways. The tests began at 8:00am when we had to be back at the lab to return my lovely 24 hour urine specimen. At 8:30am we had to be at the Rehabilitation Department for a 6 minute walk test. They gave me a timer and told me to walk around this square and see how many laps I could do in 6 minutes. I managed to complete 4 3/4 laps before the time was up. My heart rate went up to 130, but my oxygen only dropped to 92% from 96%. That was another fairly quick appointment. Next, at 9:30am we had to go back to the Mazankowski Heart Institute to register to meet with the Heart Transplant Cardiologist. I am not having a heart transplant obviously, but I still had to meet with him just to have a consult and make sure my heart is strong enough for the transplant. Of course it is! At 10:30am we were back at the 2E Medicine Clinics to meet with Dr. Humar, an infectious disease doctor. He talked with us about the rare bacteria I have and how we will have to attack it before and after transplant to make sure it does not return to my transplanted lungs. IV antibiotics pre and post transplant is definitely something I will be doing to make sure I stay healthy. At 11:00am I had an appointment for Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs) and for Arterial Blood Gases (ICK!). I was not used to the PFT machine and mouth piece at this hospital and was also not feeling the greatest because I was so hungry and nauseated from fasting so my FEV1 was only 35% today. Hopefully it will be better than that when I see Dr. Parkins in Calgary next week. I had the full run through of PFTs. After that was the dreaded blood gases. That large needle they stick in the artery in your wrist does not feel good at all, but I got through it and my oxygen and carbon dioxide levels were not too bad at all. After we were done there, I got the pleasure of watching mom and Mike have lunch. Woo! Thank guys! At 1:30pm I registered at Day Ward 1A2 for my bronchoscopy. The nurse took me back and got me all ready to go and then they took me into the procedure room to put the scope down my throat and look at my lungs. They drugged me up with some Fentanyl and Versed which completely knocked me out. I don`t remember anything else until I woke up and mom was standing there looking at me. The bronc went good though and the doctor was surprised at how little secretions were in my lungs. After the bronc I was unable to eat for 4 hours because my throat was frozen so it was just back to the hotel for a nap before supper. After I woke up we decided to just go to the hotel lounge for supper and it was really good. After that it was back to the room to turn in for the night. Mom, Mike, and Auntie Lynn were with me all day again today.