Thursday, June 5, 2008

Chemo #1 Day 9 - Collapsed Lung

I arrived this morning to find Ma back on the full oxygen mask. In the early morning, Pa said she had a panic attack and said she couldn't breath. Turns out her lung had collapsed, a complication caused by her chest tube (the tube that was draining the pleural fluid). The doctor put another tube in Ma's chest that created negative pressure, thereby sucking the air out of her chest and reinflating the lung. But she was transferred to the ICU so that she can be monitored closely. She was also put on a ventilator and will stay sedated the rest of the night. We're hoping she can be taken off the ventilator tomorrow and that her lung won't collapse again. The doctor doesn't know if this means the pleurodesis didn't work. I hope he doesn't have to do it again as it put Ma in extreme pain.

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