I have no advice huni but I do know what its like with a lot of health problems. iv got a stent in my kidney and iv got to go back in to have more surgery to try and remove my kidney stones, he said this might not solve or be causing the problem with my kidneys. iv got a few other things but iv learnt to expect the unexpected with everything. (my surgeon said they went in and were unprepared for how complicated it was. (story of my life!!) lol.
huni we are all here for you huni and if you want to talk you know im here.
huge hugs xox
The panic is currently retreating to just being over the biopsy rather than over everything because of the biopsy.
I remember the first time I had a GA - I was scared out of my brain so I avoided thinking about it. I had a friend in the hospital with me when the anaesthetist came so I appeared calm. When they took me to surgery I hyperventilated really badly. I basically paralysed myself I couldn't feel my arms and legs and couldn't move them. I'd gone as stiff as a board. Someone asked me to relax my hand so they could get the drip in - I had to tell them I couldn't feel my hand!
The next time I had a GA (same anaesthetist) I asked for some pre-op sedatives because of my last experience. I remember them asking which knee they were operating on and me suddenly wondering if I'd told them the right knee because I felt so out of it - and then I woke up after the operation. It was much calmer - and meant that the next four times I went under a GA I was completely fine about it - no sedatives needed!
When I think about it - it's probably not going to be terribly different to an ultrasound guided egg retrieval... I've done three of them, but thinking about it in those terms doesn't help because I woke up in horrific pain from each of them and had OHSS every single time, so that just doesn't help!
The locum just said a local anaesthetic. I'm certainly going to make my specialist (when I meet him!) aware of the anxiety issues I have surrounding the biopsy. His rooms are in the Castle Hill day hospital and I'm assuming the biopsy would be done there as well, so I know they have the facilities to do it under sedation (three egg collections under GA in the same hospital!). I'm not even sure I need to be out completely - just that they need to give me something to stop the outright panic I'm feeling!
I guess that for now it's just a case of hoping and praying that they take me seriously about the anxiety - otherwise I don't think I could even turn up to have it done!
Kaz - my liver is a little inflamed but not massively so. I generally only get pain if I eat the wrong foods now but with my last course of antibiotics it was hurting all the time by the end of it... I'm told that it's rare to have pain afterwards - but I've been than unlucky minority just too many times to believe for sure that I won't be in pain!
I think the hardest thing about this is the switch from the locum to the real specialist I haven't met yet - I've got no idea what he's like or anything! Kim, I know it's a long shot, but did you ever work with Dr Don?
It's hard to feel confident when you haven't met the specialist. Planning and preparing to be in pain afterwards might not be a bad idea. At least then if it does happen it will be expected and you can go into management mode (I'm assuming you have lots of pain management experience BW) rather than it coming as a shock and then if you don't get pain, that's just a bonus!
They can definitely give you something for the anxiety on the day. When do you get to meet the specialist? I'm pretty sure they would consider it overkill to give you a GA for a biopsy. (I got mixed up earlier and it was the lung and chest lymph node biopsies that they wouldn't mildly sedate DP for (due to compromised breathing), not the liver one). But having said that, if you were to ask about it with the specialist, it might impress on them how anxious you are feeling about it.
I think a GA for a liver biopsy would be overkill, too. But I certainly think I need something to help me cope with the anxiety on the day. Just something to make me relax and not freak out...
As for when I meet my specialist - I have an appointment in July, but I was told that they would ring me to move it forward and if I haven't heard from them by Wednesday to call them myself to move it.
I'm starting to think that if they won't offer a sedative of any sort I'll get my GP to write me a script and get someone else to drive me. Probably not really a good thing to do, but I feel less anxious if I've got a plan B in place.
Perhaps you could meet them half way and request a twilight sedation. They could give you some pre op meds to calm you down then just the light sedation which means you don't remember anything about it. I've had one for a endoscopy and it makes you sleepy but not totally out to it and I didn't remember a thing about it afterwards.
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