Just under 24 hours after general stickinducingness was performed and the drain is now clamped! This is the next step, and so now we wait to see if tinylung can stay standing, before we contemplate step 3, which would be drain removal! Just to explain a little more as to the procedure I had done yesterday (as I now think I have got my head round it therefore following this probably naïve believe will attempt an explanation) – because my lung was being a stubborn little blighter and refusing to stay up nicely all on its own, we needed to make it stick. Putting something man made in there (like superglue or a perhaps less toxic version) wouldn’t be good as…well you have seen the damage caused if you have ever superglued something and then tried to remove it, and we are hoping to get these lungs out for transplant!

So what they have oh so cleverly done is hopefully provoked my body into creating its own weak form (pritt stick if you will) of glue. This was done by making it inflamed, because when you make something inflamed, it produces proteins which are naturally sticky. So this drug was injected not because it was sticky (as I previously thought) but because it makes the little lung cavity so inflamed and furious that it throws all this protein out in a fit of rage (a bit like I do when I am angry and I hurtle pots of tablets on the floor then pull a satisfied naughty face as it does make me feel better) and all this inflammatory response will make the lung stick! Hey presto!

Of course unfortunately inflammation can be quite sore, and we were attempting to cause a huge response in a very short space of time, which is why it hurt so much. Therefore my complaints of burning swelling and bruising sensations whilst met with sympathy (the staff were as always going beyond the call of duty to do whatever they could to help) were kind of cause for celebration as it means its working. It is not a nice procedure to undergo BUT hopefully this will be my pass card out of hospital so I was willing to go for it. I just kept concentrating through gritted teeth on my lounge at home, on my pink room, and on my own bed. Even if I can get home for a bit it will all be worth it. And once the initial huge swell of inflammation had passed, we are now down to a much more tolerable ache and bruising sensation, and I really don’t mind that at all. In fact today I have been merrily talking the ear off of anyone who has entered the room; I always feel pretty grateful and chirpy the day after a very bad day, as everything automatically seems so much easier and nicer. Thank you for lovely emails/texts/comments and things as always, muchly appreciated and of course all those sticky thoughts - I’m sure no one else in the world can be asking for sticky thoughts so I am not depriving anyone of them by hogging them all so keep them coming!