Just keep breathing

Two weeks ago I had the gastroscopy. The morning was messy so I didn't have much time to worry about it. And when the hospital called to ask if I could come earlier, everything went very quick. Once in the hospital, i went straight to the endoscopy department. I was immediately admitted there. List of questions was completed, checks were made and an IV was placed. Then I had to wait a while until it was my turn. Once in the treatment room, the nerves kicked in tremendously. Flashbacks to the first endoscopy I had at the LUMC. The bronchoscopy in which the lung specialist has taken a biopsy from the tumor. Luckily I get a sedation this time. All I get is the numbing spray in the back of my throat. A spray that they made “tasty” by giving it a banana flavour. Who made that up?!? I wake up in the recovery room. At first I am still very drowsy, but I soon see that the letter with the provisional results is already ready. When I read that I am a bit disappointed: they have not found a c...

It is now 6 weeks after the surgery. The past few weeks have been dominated by recovery. I have had telephone contact with the pulmonologist several times. In one of those conversations, he said that the pathologist has determined that the tumor has been removed completely. The margins of clean tissue are minimal, max. 2 mm, which is why they want to give me radiation as a precaution. Before the radiation process can start, it must first be checked whether the seam in my trachea has healed properly. Monday May 11 Today the pulmonologist will look into my trachea trough a bronchoscopy. Because it was not nice for me last time, this time I will get a sedation. The thing they can't do while I'm asleep is to give the anesthetic, that "fine" banana flavor again. When I wake up, I hear that everything went well and that the seam looks neat. So, a green light for the radiation process.

Today (March 12) I have another appointment with the pulmonologist. On Wednesday they always have wide consultations with all doctors and I expect that they have discussed my case there. And of course I hope the pathologist gave the biopsy results. The hospital visit starts with a new lung function test. The pulmonologist would like to know whether the procedure has been successful. Immediately after the surgery I noticed that I could breathe a lot better, by that I realized how bad my breathing was. After the round of Corona questions, you have a cold, you have a fever, you cough (yes, but that's because of irritation in my trachea because of the surgery), we can start. The nurse informs me I have to tell if it’s not feeling okay because there is no need to provoke the trachea. The blowing is fine and I immediately see that the curve is looking fine. The nurse responds to this by indicating that she is not allowed say anything about it, but I notice that she agrees with me. Due to...

For over a year I have been suffering from vague tightness. It is difficult to say when it does and doesn’t bother me, what type of tightness it is and whether there is a certain trigger. Because it has been getting worse in recent months, I make an appointment with the general practitioner. The GP does not hear anything strange about my lungs, but she wants me to have a lung function test to see if it may be asthma. If that does not work out, then I have to see a pulmonologist because breathlessness is not okay. A few days later, the practice nurse takes the lung function test, spirometry. The curve I blow is abnormal, a strange flattening instead of a nice peak. Because she has never seen this before, she wants to advise the GP to refer me to a pulmonologist. Because I would like to know what the abnormal curve could mean, I am looking for information about spirometry curves. Soon I found that this curve fits an airway obstruction. I also find information about tumors, but I ignore t...