4/11 Bronchoscopy Done, Well, Sort Of,......

Well I had my bronchoscopy alright but I was coughing so much they were not able to get any meat off of me. Instead, they took swabs of my throat-juices (saliva?) that they said "clearly showed" small--cell lung cancer that, they said, has matasitized throughout my lymph nodes and is trying to make its way into my bones, even to the top of my skull! Good news is that although "scattered everywhere" among my bones, ALL of it is superficial and NONE of it has penetrated through them and into the bloodstream (yet).


Still, I read somewhere that if for any reason they are unable to obtain a proper specimen (a chunk of tumor) there is an ALTERNATE method NORMALLY used which is to FULLY SEDATE the patient and go in through the neck.

Now I am by no means an expert just a layperson cramming to understand,...but the question remains in my mind "why wasent I given this alternative to bioposy and just how accurate are "swabs" at detecting cancer cells without a proper biopsy based on examination of a piece of the tumor itself? Hum.......

http://www.hospitalhelp.co.uk/investigations/bronchoscopy.html


http://www.hospitalhelp.co.uk/investigations/bronchoscopy.html