Biopsy Done!

[Guest guest]

Lee, Leona, Bill, and Nellie and anyone who I missed,

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement! I got through the

procedure yesterday pretty well. There was some pain afterwards, but

with oral pain meds, I was fine. This was a far cry from my first

experience.

I fully recommend having an ultrasound guided liver biopsy over the

kind that the GI dies where he just blindly sticks the needle into

your side. They even back-filled the whole with this gel substance.

It will disolve as I heal, but in the meantime, my body has something

in there to hold the place of the missing tissue...The medical team

was aware of my past experience, and the nurses made sure I was doing

all right throughout. By the end of the day, I half-way expected the

nurse to hug me when I left. She had tears in her eyes! Nice to have

that happen because of good reasons!

Again, thanks for your kind thoughts. I did think of the group while

I was getting the procedure done. I remembered that I wasn't alone in

having to go through this type of thing, and that if everyone else

had better experiences than my first one, that perhaps this one would

be better. I was certainly a lot calmer knowing that you all were

here.

Thanks again!

Deb in VA

AIH 1997, PSC 1998, UC 1999, Listed Ltx 2001, MELD 18

[Guest guest]

Deb,

Glad everything went smoothly for you! Hope your results are just

as good!

Best,

Bill Wise (36)

PSC '00

[Guest guest]

Deb,

I'm so, so, so glad to hear that this one went better for you. I'm

keeping a good thought for good results, too.

It's funny that you said you half expected the nurse to hug you. When

Larry went for his biopsy, the first time, we were there from 5:30

a.m. to 1:30 and they didn't do the procedures because the

interventional radiologist was worried about Larry's coagulants being

too low. So, instead of contacting his GI and getting him some plasma,

they sent us home. It was a long and frustrating day. As we were

leaving, though, one of the nurse's aides came up and gave us both a

hug. It was surprising and so nice. Funny how even a hug from a

stranger can make you feel better.

Anyway, I was just thinking about how sometimes, with all the PC-ness

and personal space issues, we miss out on actual human contact. I wish

that nurse could've given you a hug. I hope you'll accept a virtual

one from me now. ;-}

Nellie

Wife of Larry (31) PSC 9/04, UC 10/04