The Discovery

Sunday, June 10th

LEFT ARM SWELLING. Bryan's left arm has been swelling for approximately 3 weeks. He says it was "mildly painful and uncomfortable." On Sunday, June 10th, Bryan couldn't fit his arm into his dress shirt and he couldn't button the top button (because the swelling was now in his neck as well). Around 1 pm (after Bryan taught two lessons at church), we drove to a clinic in Sandy. They sent us to the University of Utah Emergency Room.

U OF U EMERGENCY ROOM. We arrived at the U around 2:00 pm. The doctors thought it was an infection or a blood clot. Infection was ruled out quickly (by blood tests and lack of heat in the arm). They ordered an ultrasound of his arm to check for blood clots. The ultrasound did not show blood clots, but showed slow blood flow in his left arm. The ER doctor was concerned by the result and told us that Bryan had a major problem--either something was blocking a blood vessel in the chest cavity or there was a blood clot in a blood vessel in the chest cavity. (That male doctor's shift was over & was replaced by a female doctor at this point.)

ANGIO CT. The doctor ordered an Angio CT (different and less invasive than an angiogram--forgive my lack of proper medical terms). There were several trauma cases ahead of Bryan and we waited hours for the test to be completed. Once they performed test (around 9 pm), we had results in minutes.

THE FIRST NEWS. The ER doctor told Bryan that the CT revealed a "mass" in his chest. She showed us the location of the "mass" on the CT. She told Bryan he would need to see several specialists and admitted Bryan to the hospital.

BRYAN'S ROOM. He was "wheeled" to his room around 11 pm. He was sharing a room with another person so I left for the night (the kids were still at home). I was almost home and Bryan called to tell me he had been moved to a private room.

NOT MUCH SLEEP. Even with a private room, Bryan hardly slept. Even in a quiet house (all the kids were asleep when I arrived there), JoLayna hardly slept.