Another... big day medically for Julia. There are some details in this post that some people might find gross.
She was pretty uncomfortable today with this newly-found "large pocket of fluid" next to her lung, between and the lung the .... lung sac, I guess. They had been getting opinions from the other teams on how best to proceed, and today they decided to drain it. They sedated her so she was nice and comfy, and used a needle/catheter to drain out 760ml of "mystery" fluid from beside her right lung. They did not want to force anything, so they decided to leave the drain in at least until tomorrow. It has continued to drain out another 400ml.
The liquid is a reddish color (clearly part blood), but they don't believe it's a fresh or active bleed. It's also not thick like blood, so it's clearly mixed with something. They just aren't sure what. Samples have been sent off to microbiology and oncology to try to fight out, 1. what it is, and 2. where it's coming from. The 'obvious reason' is "the tumor did something". Did it cause bleeding, did it prevent something from working, did it pinch something off... we don't know. The best case scenario is it stops draining, and nothing obvious shows up in labs or scans, and we can chalk this up to a freak occurrence. ...Given how everything else seems to be failing, I'm not sure how realistic that is.
They've already done another x-ray to make sure things are headed in the right direction, at least temporarily (they are), and then will do another x-ray and likely another ultrasound tomorrow. The drain will stay in until tomorrow, and they will remove it if things appear to be all clear.
So... over a liter of fluid was sitting next her lung. It's more than enough to put pressure on the lungs and push other organs around. No wonder she was uncomfortable and struggling to breathe =(
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Since the procedure, she has woken up and is CLEARLY already more comfortable. Her respiratory rate, while sleeping right now, is 13. That's great. The last two nights it was 40-60. That's breaths-per-minute, so definitely that's not restful sleep. Much better right now. She's also given a few bigger smiles and some more enthusiastic head nods. Still too early to determine if her right arm is any better, because it's in a no-no (that cast thing) so she doesn't yank out the drain. But instantly a noticeable improvement from yesterday.
So, she's been sleeping most of the evening. She's probably EXHAUSTED! She's no-doubt been uncomfortable for days, she was having trouble breathing for the last 48 hours, she was sedated today, and now she is likely feeling huge relief. So she has been sleeping very soundly.
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So that's where we're at. We should have answers in another day or so. Hopefully this isn't just more bad news.
Pictures today from the procedure. No video tonight. Hopefully a more rested Julia tomorrow, and maybe a smile =)
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********** ~~ Julia Adams ~~ *********** ************* Official Links ************* **************************************
Julia's official pages:
Website: juliaadamscancerfund.org
Facebook: Julia's Fight Against Rare Cancer - Fund
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/juliasfightagainstcancer
Julia's official fundraisers: Ornaments: https://etsy.me/2XAd8PP T-shirts: https://bit.ly/2MQc0lF | https://tinyurl.com/y55lh988 Jewelry: https://etsy.me/2E1mR8i Tumbler: https://tinyurl.com/yy6oamph Car Magnet: https://tinyurl.com/y4nxr3lr
Where I buy Julia's CBD Oil (CBD BioCare 3500mg bottle): www.naturallywellforlife.com || Coupon code: danaboyd
Chordoma Foundation: www.chordoma.org
If you're new and want to know what's going on, my first post about Julia was on October 31st 2018. You can find them all on my Facebook page or Julia's website <3
