I know a lot of family has been following Brian's sickness on Facebook and I wanted to let everyone know the whole story about what is happening from the beginning.
It started about a month ago when Brian had the flu. We didn't take him to the doctor because we thought it was just a virus he had to ride out. He was home sick from work Monday-Thursday and went to work on Friday. Friday he came home and was completely drained and it was hard to breathe, this continued into Saturday. We decided it was time to take him to urgent care. At urgent care they did a chest X-ray and diagnosed him with a severe case of pneumonia. They gave him a z-pack, steroids, antibiotic shot and a breathing machine. He felt better but after all the meds were gone he still had back pain and trouble breathing (this was about 2 weeks after the appt with urgent care).
He had already scheduled a general yearly check up with his primary care physician (PCP) just over a week ago. Told him about the recurring symptoms and they did a CT scan. Then they called us the Monday after (last Monday) really early and told us to come in ASAP to review the results of the CT scan. The said they found fluid in is right lung but they were stumped because he wasn't "sick" with a fever or any other symptoms. Along with the fluid in his lung, they found enlarged lymph nodes and an enlarged spleen which told the doctors that there was some kind of inflammation but they didn't know what was causing the reaction. They took lots of blood to test and had him do another CT, but this time with contrast. They also set us up with an appt with a pulmonologist for Thursday.
The appt Thursday got postponed due to the winter storm to Friday...when we met with the doctor we actually got to see the CT an found out that it was not fluid in his lung, but actually fluid in between the linings of his lung and his chest cavity. A lot of fluid. This is what was causing him to have difficultly breathing because it wouldn't allow his right lung to expand fully. She was also stumped because he wasn't "sick" like he should have been. She finally put a name to the fluid, it's called an empiema. It normally happens with the elderly and when they come in to get diagnosed they are practically on their deathbed...and Brian was odd because he felt fine. Her and his PCP said that if his oxygen levels were lower or if he had a fever they would have admitted him to the hospital right then...but since he was fine he got to stay home but we had to watch him carefully for changes. Assuming nothing changed, we had an appt scheduled with the cardio thoracic surgeon Monday (today) at 3:30
Then he changed Sunday night, he was very fatigued and spiked a fever so we brought him to the emergency room to be safe. The ER looked him over and admitted him to the hospital. By the time we got in our room upstairs and out of the ER, it was about 3am this morning. Then he got the run down of questions, nurses, more questions, IV's of fluids and antibiotics, more nurses and more people checking him out. He's been pretty good all day and we finally got to meet with the surgeon About an hour ago (he has been doing a valve replacement all day)
The surgeon has scheduled surgery for 8:30 tomorrow morning. He plans on trying to get out the fluid as minimally evasive as possible by starting with a scope but he is highly doubtful it will work since the fluid has been in for 3 weeks and is probably very stringy and thick. So if the scope doesn't work, they will open him up for a thorocotomy (the same surgery they do to remove part of a lung) and will have to scrape out the gunk. So depending on how the surgery goes, that will determine how long he is in the hospital. They said to expect being here for the rest of the week.
Well, that's all we know for now...please everyone keep him in your positive thoughts for a good surgery and a healthy recovery. I will try to keep Facebook updated as we know more.
Thanks to all who have given us support during this we truly appreciate all the help and love.
