Liver Biopsy

This morning I had my liver biopsy. If I'd try to describe it, I might do it much less technically than this:

After Arriving

A radiology nurse will:

• Ask you a few questions regarding your medical history
• Do a brief clinical assessment (pulse, blood pressure, etc.)
• Place a special plastic needle in your vein (intravenous line) before your exam

You will be asked to change into a hospital gown for your procedure.

The diagnostic medical sonographer and imaging physician will explain the procedure to you and answer any questions you may have.

The imaging physician will explain the risks and benefits of the exam prior to having you sign a consent form.

During Your Exam

You will be requested to lie on the examination table on your back.

Ultrasound images of your abdomen will be obtained to locate the precise area of biopsy.

A warm gel will be applied to your abdomen, this gel is very similar to hair styling gel. The gel allows the sound waves to travel from the machine into your abdomen more easily.

A transducer, a small, microphone-like device, will be placed over the area being examined. There is no pain; however, you may feel mild pressure from the transducer.

Once the location is identified, the imaging physician will clean your abdomen and place sterile drapes over the work area.

The imaging physician will numb the biopsy site; however, you may experience a slight stinging sensation as the medication is injected.

As the medication takes affect, the imaging physician will explain how you should breathe during the actual biopsy and will ask you to practice that technique until you are comfortable with the instructions.

During the biopsy, a special needle device is used to remove the sample of your liver. You will hear a "staple gun-like" noise as the sample is taken.

That probably plays a lot better than my version. Chatting with an online friend in the IRC above, I'd described it as follows:

• They used an ultrasound to find what they were looking for.
• Then they had some funky needle thing that they inserted a few cm.
• It had some spring-loaded thingamajig that scooped up a sample of the lesion in question.
• They took four samples and cleaned up me.

Dr. Close, I believe, did the work today (with several others), and I had asked him about the MRI and other results. He mentioned which series it was that the lesion in question was best seen on, but I took a peek when I got home and still didn't find what I thought he had told me. I may find it yet, though -- he said it's the size of a regular grape.

Since I had the camera out, I had Angie snap a few shots of how the big incision is coming along. So there should now be plenty of good information heading to Dr. Amatruda for my next visit next week.

At the moment I feel pretty much fine; the same. One of the first things I did when I got home was to try to follow up with some work stuff that's been spilling over a couple days. We've owed a European-voiced panel to them, and I was struggling with pieces of getting multiple-voice support. I believed I had finally made it ready last night, but I wanted to check in and make sure we were able to get a verified build of the main code. I believe I was able to verify another's build, so that should hopefully be ready to go.