Valium Is My Friend

I must say, the people who work in the radiology department at Columbus Regional Hospital are great. Everyone I've dealt with over the past couple of weeks of tests and more tests has been extremely friendly, helpful, sympathetic, and calming — even the radiology receptionist, who has gone out of her way to let people in the waiting room know where they are in the process and how long it will be before their turn comes up, all without being asked. The radiology techs have all carefully explained the procedures and kept me informed of their progress during each procedure. That kind of caring treatment sure goes a long way to helping an overly anxious patient get through the testing.

I had my FNA biopsy of my thyroid gland yesterday. I got through the procedure fine, albeit with the help of an exceptionally sympathetic medical team, my husband Ron holding my hand, a wash cloth over my eyes so I wouldn't accidentally see anything I didn't want to see, and oh yeah, 10mg of diazepam (Valium).

The procedure involved first numbing the skin of my throat with injected lydocaine, then numbing further into my throat. They said this would be the hardest part, and as far as pain goes, they were correct. The rest of the procedure was not painful, although I did feel pressure; that is, I could tell they were doing something. But since I knew what they were doing, my overactive imagination made this part harder. But it wasn't terrible and I survived. I have two nodules, and the doctor needed to take three samples from each one. This meant a minimum of six needle jabs. A couple of pathologists were in the room to examine the cells as they were collected. The pathologists needed to be sure the cell samples were good ones. If not, the doctor would need to take another sample. He did a great job, though, and got all six samples on the first try. I was quite relieved to hear the pathologist say the samples were all good. Now I just have to wait until the pathologists do whatever they do to the cell samples to determine what they are.

I have a small place on my neck that looks like a mosquito bite, until you get close enough to see all the needle pricks. That area of my neck is slightly swollen and quite tender, even today. I've been icing it for about 15 minutes every couple of hours. I was told I might have some bruising, and I do bruise easily, but so far the bruising has been really minimal. You have to look really closely to see it, and from a distance I think it just looks like a shadow.

My followup appointment with my ENT doctor is this afternoon, and he expects to have all my test results by then. As I said in an earlier post, I don't expect this to be anything serious, but still, I'm a bit anxious waiting to have that belief confirmed.