Yvonne Foong

I am still here at the NIH Clinical Center and not back in Malaysia yet, because I have been down with Pneumonia.

It all started when I complained of a new difficulty in swallowing food after surgery. My tongue was swollen while my body temperature was elevated, so I was taken to see Beth – the speech therapist – who observed me swallow food through an X-Ray machine. She put me on a pureed food diet and gave me a special cup that emits 5cc sips. She looked concerned.

Next, was a chest X-RAY which showed something in my lungs. It looked like I was having a serious lung infection, so people from Infectious Diseases came to see me in the ward after that.

The following day, I had a CT scan of the chest done which revealed the cause of my Pneumonia – food aspiration. Food had accidentally entered the wrong pipe and into my lungs, causing Pneumonia.

We started treatment for Pneumonia very earlier on – when I complained of eating difficulty, my body temperature was elevated and nurses heard something unusual in my lungs through the stethoscope. We started treatment the moment a possible Pneumonia was suspected. I have been receiving continuous antibiotics plus normal saline infusion intravenuously, while my body breaks down the inhaled food by itself. At the time of writing this, nurses say that my lungs sound clear, but taking deep breaths still hurt me.

More tests and consultations are in store. We are collecting sputum samples and I will be seeing the lung doctor soon.

The past week had been arduous on my physical body. Who would know that recovery from Pneumonia could be so tough? I slept more than half the time, my whole body would ache, I needed pain killers and anti-nausea medications. My temperature soared now and then.

By the way, inhaling food due not necessarily cause Pneumonia, and there are other causes of Pneumonia.

My flights that were supposed to depart last Saturday were cancelled because I was and still not well enough to travel, and I want to find out the cause of the Pneumonia. We know that, this time, it was because I inhaled food. But I also have a chronic breathing difficulty.

Someone from Infectious Diseases thinks that the case of food entering my lungs might be due to a pre-existing problem which was made worse by the surgery breathing tube, but he wasn’t sure. This is why I need to see the Lung doctor.

UPDATE

SUN 28 April: i have just been placed under contact isolation. Anyone who comes into my room must wear a yellow coat and gloves. Too bad I can’t hear or they may just shout what they want to say from the door.

SUN 28 April, evening: Contact Isolation lifted. No infection was found in my blood, urine, stool, and sputum samples.

MON 29 Aprik: Did some breathing tests today. The pulmonologist evaluated the results, as well as the CT scan, Chest X-Ray, my condition and medical history. In a nutshell, she is in the opinion that I have been experiencing food aspiration for a long time over the last few years. It caused me to have breathing difficulty which worsened gradually, weakening my lungs.

Since my swallowing nerve was impaired by a brain tumor many years ago – my left vocal cord paralyzed and left palate immobilized – she will speak to my neurosurgeon and send me to the ENT to see if we can fix the structures in my throat to prevent future food aspiration from happening.

My lungs are still on the recovery from pneumonia. I am feeling lethargic and tired from the pneumonia, and nauseous from the antibiotics infusion. The lower portion of my lungs are still inflammed.

I will be doing more tests in the next few days.

Finally, I had the arm surgery done last Friday here at the U.S. National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. In surgery, Dr. Asthagiri found there were four tumors in total as compared to two. These four tumors grew in a straight line along the Radial nerve. They were located beneath a muscle – that’s why it was hard to see how many tumors there were exactly via MRI.

Dr. Asthagiri removed three of the tumors including the largest one that we could easily see in the photograph of my previous post. He left the last, tiny one behind because it involves a nerve vital to my arm function. He didn’t want to take the risk since it’s still tiny.

My arm, wrist and fingers are all in good working condition after surgery. My arm’s still bandaged, as you can see in the above photograph.

My tongue’s temporary swollen due to the oxygen tube placed into my mouth during surgery, so eating’s a challenge for the time being. Lucky me, the In-patient Food Service has an extensive menu to select my food from.

I have also been put on IV drips since last Friday or Saturday. When my nurse took my vitals, she found that my liver’s blood volume was too low and this drip is supposed to help rectify that. It seems to be working.

This surgery proved to be more major than I had previously anticipated. I was still weak by Sunday, so I had to change my return flight. It was supposed to be on Sunday, 21st April. I changed it on Saturday, 27th April. With the extended stay, we can allow my arm and tongue to recover more and normalize my liver’s blood volume more, before sending me home.

The bad news is that I have to give the Hear Us Out 10 conference a miss. I was supposed to give a talk at the Global Issues Conference this Saturday. The theme’s going to be “Pushing The Limits” which I thought would be a good opportunity to talk about my expansion from Heart4Hope – a personal fundraising campaign, to A Celebration of Life – a public, charitable foundation. I was really looking forward to the conference.

Oh well, I suppose we have to give and take sometimes.

If you would like to send me cards or letters at the hospital, you may mail them to:

I will be leaving this place on 27th April 2013.