Before I went off to sleep, I was told I couldn’t have anything to eat after midnight because of possible testing on Wednesday. No problem, I wasn’t that hungry so I drank some water and headed off to sleep.
At 5:30 a.m. I wake up to a knock at my door and in walks the nurse to draw blood work and check my vital signs. After she leaves I try to fall back asleep but can’t so I stare at the walls for about an hour. I finally decide to get up and get a shower before the Liver Team starts doing rounds on the floor. I do like to be presentable even if I’m sick in the hospital.
At around 9 a.m. the Liver Team walks into my room. They start to ask several questions and then let me know I was scheduled for a liver biopsy and ultrasound later that day. I had already had the IV placed in my right forearm so I was just patiently waiting for my escort to take me down to Interventional Radiology. After several hours of waiting, my ride finally arrived at my room and I was headed to have my liver biopsy.
Now, having a liver biopsy should be easy for me but this time I was scared and a little nervous. I hadn’t had one in 2 years and I wasn’t looking forward to the needles used to numb the area or the tender pain you feel after the biopsy. After signing, the consent form I was wheeled back to the procedure room. They started to prep me, asked me if I wanted to be put to sleep and I immediately said Yes! They administered some medicine through my IV and I was knocked out. I’m such a lightweight!
I woke up about 45 minutes later and was being wheeled back up to my room. I was starving and in pain. Once, I got to the room I just wanted to eat and sleep but unfortunately, I had to wait for my ultrasound to be done before either of those things could be accomplished. About 2 1/2 hours later I was on my way to have an ultrasound. Now, having an ultrasound right after a liver biopsy is not the ideal situation since you are still tender but I guess a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. Anyway, I waited for an hour and ½ before I even went back to the room. Once in the room, I was informed it would take about 30-45 minutes but if I couldn’t deal with the pain they would stop. I just wanted it all to be over with so I dealt with the uncomfortable pain (with a doc holding my hand) and let the tech finish. I’m just hoping that Linus hasn’t been beaten up too badly and can be saved.