Update...
Had an ultrasound on 02.13.15 and the technician said "you are full of fluid!, you know, we can remove that for you?"
My response was "Yeah, I knew I was not pregnant... "and "no, I did not know it could be removed".
After the ultrasound, I headed up to the oncologist's office and spoke to the nurse about having the procedure. She met with the doctor, who reviewed the ultra sound report and agreed, I was a good candidate for this procedure, called Paracentesis. The fluid is called ascites. Damn.. now I have to learn all these medical terms. There was a reason I did not go into medicine. My memory for terms, kind of sucks.
This is from a page about paracentesis:
"There are two reasons to take fluid out of the abdomen. One is to analyze it for diagnostic purposes; the other is to relieve pressure. Liquid that accumulates in the abdomen is called ascites. Ascites seeps out of organs for several reasons related either to disease in the organ or fluid pressures that are changing. Read more: http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/La-Pa/Paracentesis.html#ixzz3Rm4aODDb "
My procedure was scheduled for Friday the 13th at 10:15 a.m. I was a bit anxious, due to the idea of someone sticking a needle and tube into my gut and sucking out fluid. However, I was very excited about the idea of getting the pressure relieved.
The sonographer (ultrasound technician) was a very sweet young lady. We chatted and I asked her a lot of questions about the procedure and then tried to relax and talked about her family. She was from Vietnam and had the most beautiful captive eyes. When I told her that I they were beautiful, her whole face lit up and she was shocked.. she kept asking "me?? you think I have beautiful eyes??!!" It was rather charming. She was so humble and excited at the same time and said I made her day.
After she took some images, the doctor came in to perform the procedure. He did not wear scrubs, which I thought was odd, nor did he have on a lab coat. Oh well. Young doctors. He explained the procedure in more detail. They saw that most of the fluid was on my left (near the ovary and tumor). He poked me with lidocaine to numb the area.. but when he tried to put in the catheter yelled. So more lidocaine and then it all went smooth.
The technician had brought in a case of 3 liter glass jars to collect the fluid. The tube was connected to the fist jar and it soon filled with a nasty liquid. I will spare the details. Within 30 minutes, they had drained out 3 and 1/2 bottles. That was 7 liters of liquid!
Oh My God!.. I was carrying around SEVEN liters of liquid.. no wonder I could not stand, or bend or walk..
My belly has been sore, but I feel so much better. I finally got a great night of sleep. Sigh.. what a relief!
Update... 02.25.15
Went to another clinic and they found more fluid had built up ~ revoved an additional 3 liters.. yuck.. that was 10 liters of nasty cancer cell filled fluid called Ascites
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