Pleural effusion and hospital experience

Pleural Effusion is when you have fluid drained from the pleural cavity. Basically, the cancer cells have built up in the pleural cavity and are oozing into the cavity..... thus, making it difficult to breathe. This is me in the hospital.. I look rougher than I really am . Oxygen was low... so I had to be given oxygen. The big bandage on my chest.. is where they accessed my port. I am allergic to normal tape so they have to use gauze and paper tape. I look like... WELL YIKES!!

This is my son-in-laws signature statement. He put it in the whiteboard in my hospital room. Notice the drawing of the pleural cavity the doctor drew.... and the response of Jared... Such strong ....Tweeeeeeeeet Jared tried to draw a female signature statement. Not so good. Check out the curly hair and bow. I laughed till I cried!! I like the eyelashes... Jenni and I had to teach him. So funny!
If you look sideways.... you can see what they put into me. This is when I called the Dr. dude a "dipstick" Hopefully it will be come out soon. The fluid is getting less and less each day. The purple part are the lungs.... The blue is the pleural cavity. I only wish I had those ab's!!
The Home Care Nurse comes each day and drains the fluid. She also takes my blood pressure, oxygen level, heart rate, and temperature. I am feeling better than I have for a very long time.

I thought this was very funny--when I was in the hospital the nurses have to put this on both my arms. It is a warning not to use needles in my arms or pressure cuffs... I don't know whether you know this or not. When you have lymphadema- the person can't have pressure cuffs on the arms or needles in the arms. So I get to have my blood pressure taken in my ankle. It is a new-yet enlightening experience. I recommend all to try at least once in their life. Please do not believe the blood pressure numbers that come up. It is usually quite a bit higher in the ankle. Just a quick FYI moment!

I am feeling better than I have in months. We are waiting for the call from the doctor to tell us what treatment regiment I will be following. Treatment number #1 if the tests come back estrogen receptor negative... Chemo......NO!!! Treatment number #2 if the tests come back estrogen receptor positive we will continue with the shots in the toosh!! (Fazladex) We need all tests to be positive!! So if you would like to pray... Pray for being positive!!! I will continue being as positive as I can!!