Heart Problems Fixed

The next few days were filled with tests trying to determine what was the best way to get the fluid out from around my heart. Normally the heart is in a sac (the pericardium) which has a few tablespoons of an oily fluid so it beats smoothly - so about 1 millimeter of fluid around the sac. My heart had 2.7 centimeters of fluid around it, greatly constricting its ability to beat normally. An echocardiogram showed, however, that the heart muscles and valves did not have permanent damage. So, since a large biopsy of a lymph node was required to know which exact sort of lymphoma I had, and since all the enlarged lymph nodes under my collarbones were inaccessible surgically without great risk of permanent nerve damage, the decision was made to place a cardiac drain into my chest. This would also allow the surgeon to take a large biopsy sample from the 10 centimeter lymph node lump which was pressing on my heart and causing most of the trouble. On Monday the 19th they got a good sample and placed the drain into the pericardial space; on Wednesday they removed the drain. (The nurses did this as cardiac surgeons "only put in drains; we don't take them out" - very funny!). Tim watched as they pulled the 10 inches of tubing from my chest - possibly a bad decision in hindsight. I was very sore and used quite a bit of morphine but could breath better almost immediately after they put in the drain. Eventually, over 48 hours 540 mls of fluid drained out from around my heart....