Once I changed into my pajamas and got comfortable in my bed (well as comfortable as you can get in a hospital bed) they knocked on the door. When the door opened six doctors came in standing around my bed asking me a bunch of questions. What kind of medicine are you on right now? Are you in pain? How long has your abdomen been distended? Can we take a listen to you? After this series of questions was over, the tapping on my abdomen started to check for fluid. They informed me that they would like to do an Ultrasound of the abdomen to see how much fluid I had in my abdominal cavity. They checked and only saw a small amount so I was good for the night. That was it for the night and out the door they went. Shortly, after my dad and mom left and it was time to get some rest. Of course, my sister stayed the night as she normally does (she likes the overnight shift) before she heads out in the early a.m. to get back to NY for work. I know that seems crazy but she wouldn't have it any other way and neither would I quite frankly.
The morning arrived and the Liver Team was back in my room by 9am. They went over the same questions, prescribed some medicines for me to start taking and ordered a bunch of blood work and test. First, I had to have an Ultrasound again down in the Radiology department. Second, I had to deal with the fluid that continued to build up in my abdominal cavity. I was starting to look like a 6-7 month pregnant lady with the extreme back pain and difficulty walking (keep in mind I have no children) so I was eager to get the fluid out. Luckily, I had enough fluid to get the Parencentesis (a procedure to take out fluid that has collected in the belly by using a long, thin needle put through the belly.) I had this procedure done twice and they collected a total amount of 1400cc's to send off to the lab. I was in some pain when I came back from the procedure so off to sleep I go.
The next procedure that the team scheduled was a liver biopsy. This procedure I'm familiar with because I had it done twice years ago (once when I was 1st diagnosed and 2nd in my college years) but I was scared this time because they were going to go through my jugular vein. For some odd reason that just scared the crap out of me and all I could envision was pure pain. So back down to Interventional Radiology I went (luckily I had the same doc, for the sake of privacy I will just call him Dr. W) to have my procedure. They numbed my neck, gave me some sleepy meds and placed a catheter in my neck to get to my liver. When I woke up I was being wheeled back to my room. I was in a lot of pain so I was happy to get my pain med and off to sleep I went again!
So in a span of 3-4 days I had several tests and procedures but I had my support team there with me every day making sure everything was fine. I went through a lot for a couple of days but I realize when you are going through something difficult seeing the people that love and care about you makes it all a little better.