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(Research question) Biopsies
I have a character with suspected bowel cancer. How soon after visiting her GP would she be likely to go into hospital/see specialist? She's very reluctant so would try to delay this.
When she has the examination, she's found to have a cyst which is treated. Would a biopsy still be done, or would it be clear she didn't have cancer?
If there was a biopsy, how soon would she have the result?
Comments
She could have a barium meal which is radioactdive and looks at the gullet and i think the small intestines, and then a barium ennema that goes up the bottom ( i can give you loads of detail about having had one myself) and the probably a sigmoidoscopy, which is a flexible tube up the bottom. biopsies from the end of the large bowel can be taken through a sigmoidoscopy. Not sure how long it takes results to come through if it is high probablility of cancer, but I was told that my test seemed okay on the day and then went to see my GP a few weeks later and he confirmed this. All done under mild sedation.
Fortunately, it's not my mc who has this, so I don't need too much detail, but I do have to get the timings right. Were you just in hospital for the day?
One of my characters is in a clinic and he has been drugged (illegally) because he's been kidnapped. Now they are planning to prepare him for the operation. Would they give him a further anaesthetic? Would they wait for him to wake up and then pre-med him properly? would they calculate sufficient time since he'd last eaten (twelve hours isn't it)? I need enough information just to make it sound realistic and I also need an excuse for the operation to be delayed, so if they were forced to wait for one lot of drugs to wear off before pre-medding him, that would be ideal.
Should your villains need the character to live, for development of the plot, they would be responsible enough to delay administering further drugs.
Assuming the initial drugging was a measured dose to induce comotose without harm, it would have to disperse before an accurate calculation of anaesthetic could be administered for control through an operation.
Alternatively, quite a few operations can be completed using only localised anaesthetic. Keeping the victim alert to the misdemeanours being carried out might suit your villains purpose. Depending upon intended scalpel action may affect purpose and type of operation. Consider removal of a limb being possible without need for full unconscious state. Are villains likely to be so considerate to their victim?
My opinion is based upon personal surgical procedures and knowledge shared from medically professional friends.
if it's a planned operation or not so urgent, they would wait for him to wake up; same for food - if not empty stomach they would not anesthesie him unless life in danger.
PM, There are good reasons why they need to leave him alive, trust me.
Do you need GA?
One of the region's hospitals were doing some new brain surgery, either earlier this year or late last year, and the local news covered it. The Dr's explained that because of the way the brain is constructed you only need to be a little bit out and you can damage a bit you don't want touched. This is why they keep the patient awake and get them to perform certain tasks- say blinking, opening their mouth etc so they know that they are where they need to be.
So if the villians want to fry a certain bit of the guy's brain...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011db8c/Inside_the_Human_Body_Building_Your_Brain/
Happy days!