Let It be in General

  • Dec. 18, 2020, 9:35 p.m.
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  • Public

Let it Be

Obviously I haven’t been writing a lot in the last few months. While I have felt “okay”, I haven’t felt great or even normal.

Six month check in with my cardiologist included a chest x-ray, an echocardiogram, and a chest CT.

Heart is pumping along fine. Aaaand….the pleural effusion from after the surgery hasn’t gone away.

A pleural effusion is a buildup of fluid between the lung and the pleura, the sack it sits in. They collapsed my right lung to make room for the surgeon to do his magic, and apparently my lung never fully reinflated.

So today I made my way to Mid-Coast Hospital where a technician used an ultrasound to find a good spot and mark an “X” on my back where my Pulmonologist (Because I now have a primary care doc, an eye doc, a dentist, a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, TWO radiologists, a partridge in a pear tree, I mean a pulmonologist) numbed me up and stuck a needle into my right pleura and drained off 1.5 liters of fluid.

It wasn’t much of an ordeal, but I really don’t like being in hospitals. And 1.5 liters is around 3 pounds. Whoot. Gonna make that cheesecake.

As I said, I have been feeling “okay.” They told me to go home and rest and resume normal activities tomorrow.

Unfortunately I had a list, and when I leave the house for any reason I knock out the list. Reny’s, BB&B, Shaw’s. By the time I was heading home I was almost euphoric. I suppose that happens when you suddenly have 25% more lung capacity. I was feeling like I could run a goddamn marathon.

“Let it Be” came on the radio. Not my favorite Beatles song, but I sang along. And I sang loud.

And life came back on again after months of mind numbing binge watching of Netflix and Hulu and AMC premier.


Last updated December 24, 2020


gattaca December 19, 2020

Glad you're OK! (If not quite normal).
There always seems to be one complication or another after surgery this invasive.
I did not experience what you did, but I got what was behind Door #2: a carcinoma right on top of the sternotomy scar. They removed it. They said they'd never seen that before. Great.

Duke gattaca ⋅ July 28, 2021

Holy shit! Months later I ended up with a cyst at the top of my scar. The cardiologist told m to put hot compresses (and I did put HOT compresses) and it eventually went away. I thought it was the start of a keloid scar.

Sassy December 20, 2020

3 lbs of fluid! I don't see how you were breathing at all. Hope you continue to get better and soon.

Kristi1971 December 25, 2020

That's a lot of fluid. I'm glad you are feeling better with that drained off.

Jinn January 14, 2021

Glad you got rid of that !

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