After all the pregnancy drama, I did NOT end up getting a pre-ablation ultrasound.
I did however arrive to celebrity status.
“Oh! You’re the not-pregnant patient!” each time someone new entered to take my vitals or run an IV.
“That’s me!” I would say with a big smile. And we laughed out loud when my soft-spoken interventional radiologist, Dr Constantinos Sofocleous, recounted his exasperation at the number of times he was contacted about it that weekend.
“They paged me 42 times! I kept saying, leave this poor lady alone! She would know whether or not she is pregnant!”
Spirits remained high as nurses and techs rotated through the room, and I felt my optimism soar in my chest, even as I listened to the list of risk factors, higher for me due to my use of the HAI pump.
“I think you’re the one to knock this out!” I told my doctor, and he nodded sagely. “We will.”
I teared up just a little as they made Per leave so they could give me the dose of radiation I would need for the PET, and then they wheeled me back.
The slightly awkward anesthesiologist paused as he brought the mask toward my face, and told me to think of something that would bring a positive result. So I imagined opening the crown of my head and stars flowing in from everyone.
I woke up feeling groggy but ok, save a very painful shoulder - a combination of referred pain from a nerve near the liver and my usual stress knot location.
My doctor was super happy with the results, explaining he had ablated a bit more than expected, but both the biopsy and the PET were clear. And because he didn’t have to puncture my lung, I could go home that night instead of being admitted for 1-2 days!
I felt well enough yesterday to dial onto a few calls before I was due back at MSK for labs and a liver ultrasound to make sure the veins near the ablation were still functional.
The ultrasound was fine; but my labs were not: my liver enzymes shot way up, from 17 to 700+, the highest they’ve ever been, putting me at risk for liver damage. So yesterday evening was a flurry of calls between IR and oncology, the result of which is me sitting now awaiting a steroid treatment they will put into my HAI pump so it can be delivered directly to my liver.
After that, they’ve cleared us to return to Chicago; so pending weather, we will be back home tonight - and even better, back to NED!
Thank you for all the support and stars that helped to get me there! ❤️✨❤️