This is why I'm unsure, there were zero consult notes or family meeting notes! It goes straight into the operation.
They took me back into the operating room and gave a small incision on my right side. They stuck a camera through and then made another incision. They were going through my pleural cavity, which my husband signed over they could do. They saw marks of the past infection but were looking for something new.
They had found clots and large blockages, which they freed up. They also found another empyema (remember, sac of pus on lung) and they saw where they had started to free it up but stopped to not damage the lung any further. So, they started to pull it up here, but I was having trouble breathing, at this time they filled my pleural cavity with sponges until I was able to breathe again. This empyema was at the start of the chest tube, and it caused air leakage. So not only was it important for them to get the empyema, but to also assess and make sure it's okay to remove the chest tube as well.
Chest tube #1 was removed as a result of this surgery. They got out all of the foreign items that were continuing to make me sick. And they felt it okay for me to go back to my room. They did some assessments on me and found that I only answer by giving a thumbs up or down. I was delayed in my responses and some questions were required to be asked multiple times. After about 10 minutes I was fatigued. Notes suggest that when I'm discharged, I will be required to do PT although I will be slow to progress as my brain is healing.
"Fear, he is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps"
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