138. Breath holding

W, one of the women in my support group, has secondaries.  She is also the one that did a lot of the mental leg work on our NEBB jolly.  So, we’re all excitedly chatting online about what we’ll do and where we’ll go.  W wants to go to Betty’s Tea Room in particular.

A week before the big day, W develops chest pain.  This worsens until she is admitted to hospital.  It continues to get worse until she’s in agony; morphine even doesn’t touch it.  The group is frantic with worry, with people posting online every few minutes.  No one wants to say it, but we all think it.  Have her lung secondaries spread despite her ongoing chemo?  The hospital think it could be a blood clot.  I have no idea what tests are done, but we know they’re doing everything they can.  A scan is attempted but can’t go ahead because they need to inject her and can’t get a working vein.  The scan is delayed by 2 days but eventually goes ahead.  It seems to take forever before W comes online again and updates us.  A lung infection is suspected, with fluid gathering and causing pain.  As the infection clears up, the fluid should be absorbed and the pain should lesson.  Euphoria!  A happy babble breaks out online.  Our little family can breathe again.