Hospital Day 20 - The Escape!

This is a photograph of my lungs taken during a CT scan on 15th April. I had two CT scans, on 15th April and 28th April. I was given a CD today with recordings of the scans. The viewing program is complicated, with a long program description, and I didn't have the patience to read it all. I don't have the medical training needed to understand the pictures anyway. I just played around with the program until I found something interesting to look at.

The only thing I know about the picture is that the little white blobs in the lung cavities shouldn't be there. I asked what they are, and the doctor said he didn't know. The bronchoscopy that I had yesterday should give the answer, but it will take a week for the laboratory to return the results.

Now to today. I slept a record five hours, from 1:30 am to 6:30 am. I felt fresh and well when I woke up, apart from a terrible sore throat and coughing. The sore throat isn't because of my illness; it's an after-effect of the bronchoscopy. The tubes – two of them! – that were pushed down my throat irritated me, so I'll have to wait a few days to recover.

I was told an hour later that I would be discharged. The doctor came to me at 10 o'clock and told me it was a conditional discharge. When the results of the bronchoscopy arrive it will be decided whether I have to return to hospital. Alternatively, I may be treated as an out-patient. I'm sure the doctors are well-trained experts, but I find it disappointing that after 20 days in hospital they still don't know what's wrong with me. They know it's a lung infection, but they don't know what caused it. They don't know what the white blobs are in my lungs. Not yet, anyway.

I was finally sent home by taxi shortly after 12. My ex-wife offered me chili con carne, but I couldn't eat it. My food tastes are still messed up. What does that have to do with my lungs? She gave me a vegetable broth with carrots and celery as an alternative. That's my favourite food at the moment: vegetables cooked until they're so soft that they can be sliced with my spoon. I wonder how long it'll take until I'll get my normal taste back.

Now I'll try my best to get back to my normal life. The doctor told me (assuming I don't have to return to hospital) that I should rest for a week, then get up and about depending on how I feel. That's what I want. I don't want to spend every day lying in bed like an invalid.