Lymph Node/Salivary Gland/(Parotid)/Bronch/Enterobacter
I ended seeing the senior surgeon for a second opinion. He did a biopsy right in the office since we were unsure if the first biopsy actually went into the right spot. The results came back as benign salivary tissue. In the meantime, I also went for an MRI with contrast. I just had an appointment with the surgeon two days ago and he explained that the parotid gland, which is the largest salivary gland, did indeed have a tumor on it. He said, looking at the MRI, it shows clear margins which is suggestive of being benign. He does believe it's benign but can't be 100 % sure. The surgery will take 2 hours. It would take a lot less time if there wasn't the problem of trying not to nick my nerve that controls that side of my face. This is the part that makes me nervous to get this surgery. He also said I will have a permanent numbness that may shrink a bit over time. The plan was to get surgery on Jan 6. While I was at the transplant hospital, I decided to get a pulmonary function test as I knew I would need to see my transplant doctor for clearance. I tried getting blood work and an EKG but, I waited an hour and still had 20 people ahead of me. So my mom and I left. I did end up having a video visit with my transplant doctor the next day. She said I couldn't get the surgery so soon because of my lungs.
So last Thursday, I had a bronchoscopy because I had a ct scan of my chest that showed the bottom right lung had more scar tissue. I was given the option of a bronch or going on Tobi. I decided a bronch because, one, I'm not sure I'm even sensitive to Tobi, two, I wanted to know what was up with the bottom right lobe, and three, my bottom right lobe had been feeling wheezy and tight and there were a few secretions there that I was having a very hard time getting up. I got very sick soon after I got home from the bronch. I had a fever of 101.9, I had the chills, and I was achy. This lasted two days. I was pretty sure the bronch would culture a bacteria since I had such a reaction The bronch results showed I had enterobacter. I was set to go on an antibiotic I had never done before. I'm also not sure I ever cultured enterobacter before. That was only supposed to be a 10 day course of IV antibiotics so, I figured I would still be able to get the surgery. During the telehealth visit, the doctor told me I also cultured Psuedomonas and would need to throw out the meds I had received and go on a different antibiotic, one I did have before. The doctor told me she didn't want me to get the surgery so soon. She said a month from now would be ok. She wanted to make sure my lungs were fully healed before going under general anesthesia. So the plan is hopefully for Jan 28.
