Embalization

[lostreception]

Well last night i had lied down and felt a rumble in my chest (some blood rushing) this doesnt happen all that often but its getting more frequent
i began to caugh and was literally unable to breathe because of the blood coming up there was so much i was pratically drowning. it scares me a bit and my doctor is recommending embalization. ive heard this can cause paralasis if the wrong vessel is embalized has any one here had it know someone who has im concerned about it
ps i would be going to stoneybrook medical center in ny for the procedure which i am under the impression is a good hospital?
any thoughts?

ps sorry if this seems graphic i dont mean to upset anyone

 

[Diane]

Hi,
I had two embolizations done two years ago. The risk of paralysis is very small....Embolization done by a very skilled intervention radiologist, is the best option for the kind of bleeding you ( and i, ) have had. I was scared crapless before i had it done, but was thanking God after it was done. Large bleeds are terrifying especially when you feel as though you are drowning. Your best option is to have the embolization done, if it is recommended, and ill tell you why.... A large bleed usually doesn't heal over the way a small one will, and you dont want that one to re-open and bleed again. When i was hospitalized for the first large bleed, it reopened and would start bleeding again( incidentally i was sleeping both times this happened) It seemed like each time it bled it was more and more. Im not saying this to scare you, everyone is different, but you dont want the same blood vessel to keep re-bleeding. You also dont want to have to sit and worry about it breaking open every time you make a move. After my first embolization, about a month and a 1/2 later i had to have another one, because i had another weak blood vessel, and it did the same thing. would bleed bad, then stop and bleed bad again when i coughed or leaned over too far or whatever, and each time it would bleed more than the last. Since then i have had some bleeds , but not large ones thank God. I no longer lay flat to sleep, and i also recently started taking L-Lysine to help with the bleeding. I heard about its effect on helping with lung bleeds and decided to give it a try. If you want you, can email me and we can talk more about embolizations.... my email is.... jinxnick@aol.com

~Diane 40 / cf / diabetes / b.cepacia

 

[Emily65Roses]

Anybody care to take a minute and educate me? I am curious what exactly is done with an embolization? I mean I get the point of them, to stop pulmonary bleeding. But what is the procedure like? Thanks guys. <img src="i/expressions/rose.gif" border="0">

 

[anonymous]

Emily,

This one is a little tougher to explain... A doctor(radiologist normally) places a catheter in your femoral artery. They weave their way through the vascular system until they find the bleeder in the bronchial artery. They then patch it up, like a tire. Different "patches" are used depending on the size and place of the bleed(foam, polyvinly alcohol, metal coils), I imagine also it is physcians preference.


Luke

 

[Emily65Roses]

Oh that sounds like great fun.
Thanks for explaining Luke. Haha.

 

[Diane]

Ill give you an even more in depth idea of what its like. They give you a local in your groin area to numb it, then insert the long catheter and then inject some dye.Then he will go about looking for the problem area . You can see him probing in there on the screen. Usually you are given some sedation to relax you ( not put you totally asleep), but i asked to be fully awake and alert. Which enabled me to see what the intervention radiologist was seeing on the screen. Once he found the bleeder, he used a gel like substance to block off any more blood flow to that area. Then he looked around for other problem areas, and blocks those off also. My second embolization he used 2 coils because the blood vessel was so tiny he couldnt get anything else in there to block it off. ( its kind of cool to see them on x-ray's i get these days) The whole process takes about 3 hours and the hardest part is laying flat and still for the whole 3 hours. After he is finished, he removes the catheters, and they have to press very hard on the area where the catheter was for a full 15 minutes. Then its back up to your room and you will have to lie flat ( or almost flat) for a full 6 hours . It isnt as horrible as it may seem, especially if you consider the alternative .
~Diane 40 / cf / diabetes / b.cepacia

 

[Emily65Roses]

Thank you much Diane. I haven't heard of a need for one yet, I just know it's always a possibility for some point down the road. And I like knowing this stuff in as much detail as possible.

As far as lying still for several hours... WHO ARE THEY KIDDING?? lol I would have so much trouble doing that! What if you have to pee? They don't cath you, do they? I hated that when I had it done for surgery. And I imagine the laying still is to keep the "fix" from getting dislodged or what have you (if I'm wrong, correct me), so what happens when you cough? Wouldn't that alone be a risk for dislodging the gel? Thanks to anyone who takes time to answer these for me as well. <img src="i/expressions/rose.gif" border="0">

 

[Diane]

Good questions....believe me you will be so happy to see the end of your bleeding that you wont have to pee......lol ( No they dont cath you.) Actually the reason they give you twilight sleep is so you can lay still for the 3 hours. ( i swore i would lay still without the sedation). The first embolization i did get fidgety after about 2 hours and they gave me sedation even though i didnt want it. Now the second embolization got trickier because i started coughing up blood.... they rolled me onto the side of the bleeding lung ( my left ) and allowed me to cough it into a basin and while that was going on ,he kept looking on the screen for where it was coming from. It showed up as a white dot ( its good that it bled, because it showed precisely where it was) Before they start the whole process they will answer any questions you have and of coarse the first one being what if i have to cough. He just told me if i have to cough, tell him first , if i can. Another reason they like you to be sedated is because it calms down the coughing. Moving during the procedure could be bad because there is a long catheter in your main artery and if it goes in the wrong area you run the risk of paralyzation. So being still is critical while he is maneuvering it. He told me if i HAD to move ,to let him know which i did and he would stop what he was doing and allow me to just move a TINY bit and only a tiny bit.( same if i had to cough).... The gel that they inject, from what i remember ,instantly hardens. I remember him telling me when it was over, that it was safe to cough and it wont dislodge anything. But when you have to cough within 6 hours of the procedure, you have to make a fist and press it as hard as you can on the spot where the catheter was placed so it doesnt start bleeding or make a big blood clot inside. I wound up with the big blood clot inside because i didnt press hard enough, and the intervention radiologist had to come to my room and press there for about 10-15 minutes to get it to break up, and i had a huge black and blue mark that spread to my leg, it looked awful. But it went away within a week. It always sounds worse than it really is, but if you ever need an embolization, you will be glad you had one.

~Diane 40 / cf / diabetes / b.cepacia