Anyone had a V/Q lung scan?

[fuckityfuckfuckfuck]

I have one tomorrow to look for a suspected clot on the lung. I feel much better now so I am optimistic it'll be clear, but I didn't ask the woman who called from the hosiptal what will actually happen. I was surprised that the chest X ray I had at the weekend was so quick and simple, but she told me this will last half an hour. Do I have to stand up and will I have to take off my bra again? (obviously a very important question) I kept all of my clothes on apart from that for the x ray. I'm worried that they'll have to inject me with something radioactive but she did say the risks to me are minimal (am 32 weeks pg). Do I have to keep very still? I don't think I can stand up without moving for half an hour without getting very faint. ANd if they don't find a clot or any explination for the chest pain I had or raised levels of something (somehting with a 'dd' at the beginning of it I think) in my blood, will that be it or will they go looking elsewhere for a clot?

D-Dimer - it is a screening test but not diagnostic - you can get a positive without having a clot, but a negative result is reliable to rule them out.

Not sure how long a VQ takes because my hospital doesn't do them - but are you not still in hospital? Seems odd that if you feel faint after standing up for 30 mins and are waiting to get a PE ruled out that you would be at home?

There's a clear information leaflet here

No, I went in on Saturday after a horrendous night of pain on Saturday. By the time I went in the pain was already less than it had been tbh but I thought, after posting on here about it, it was probably pleurisy. That's been ruled out but they said the D dimer (that's it!) level slightly rises in pregnancy anyway so a positive result wasn;t necessarily a definate sign of a clot, hence the scan to have a closer look. I've got to go in for daily Fragmin injections, at least until tomorrow when they can stop them if the scan is clear. I've had very low blood pressure through this pregnancy anyway, but always on the healthy side of low iyswim so my midwife has never seen it as a problem. I'm fine walking around, but trying to stand still for that amount of time would be a challenge I think. I'm glad that I am at home tbh, I think being in hospital would stress me out more.

That's a good leaflet thank you. They didn't mention anything about the breathing bit, just the injection. Is it possible that they'd do one part of the test without the other?

I am not sure TBH, it may be they only mention the injection because that is the exotic sounding part of the test, IYKWIM.

I take it your oxygen levels were ok - did you have a painful blood test from inside your wrist to check your blood gases?

I honestly don't know I only know they took a blood sugar test from my finger because dp told me. I thought I was remarkably calm throughout the whole thing but I must have been panicking a bit inside because I've forgotten little things from the weekend. I don't have any marks in my wrists, I have a giant bruise from where they took blood at my elbow. They used the little finger clip to meature some things, would that have been it? I'll ask dp if they did anything to my wrist. My pulse was about 110-120 every time they took it, but I don't feel that my heart is racing so that seemed very odd. Even the first doctor I saw encouraged me to calm down and tried again, same result. Same with my blood pressure, everyone seemed surprised at how low it was. I took my maternity notes with me but noone's actually written in them and I don't have any paperwork apart from my discharge note from triage explaining the injections tomy own surgery.

I had a ct scan with dye to look for clots on my lungs. I was already on oxygen but they did do things with the supply so it may have been the same - I do not know! I was lying down all the time. They did several scans each lasting a few minutes at most. I had to breath in or outor hold my breath when asked, and was told each time I had to keep still. There was lots of short times setting each bit up where I was just lying waiting. It was surprisingly easy but did take about half an hour or so. I was unable to stand at the time and was not really up to asking questions!
I am sure they will have taken your baby into account, and cannot expect anyone ( let alone a pregnant lady) to stand perfectly still, without rests for half an hour. HTH and good luck

By the way the finger clip measures oxygen saturation of the blood indirectly, but the blood test from an artery in the wrist checks it directly.

If you were my relative I would be a bit worried that you weren't kept in, low BP, raised heart rate, pain. All might be nothing, bit of a cold/inflammation plus pregnancy, but it could be a PE and that is serious. Hope the scan gets you the all clear tomorrow

That's good magso, thank goodness I'll probably be lying down. Moaning, I think had it not been the weekend I may have been kept in just so everything could be done at once, but the scan department were shut all weekend and I was told my appointment may not be til the end of the week so I do feel that by going first thing tomorrow they're fitting me in as early as they can. I'm not gasping for breath and I only used 3 of the painkillers they gave me on the first day so I don't blame them for discharging me really. I know I can go in very quickly if needs be, they told me absolutely not to hesitate to call 999. I do wonder if maybe I'd been overdoing things and this was my signal to slow down.

but that's my point - whether or not it's the weekend makes no difference as to whether or not you are clinically safe to be discharged. I only left NHS in the last few months but I despair, I really do.

Pain sounds not too bad, do take things very easy. And you are 32 weeks, you going to have a baby very soon not jealous

I think I had one when I had my PE with DD, but I was high as a kite on pethadine for the chest pain. I seem to recall a lot of slurred speech, falling asleep and drooling!
I had an X-ray and then a long scan where I was sitting on a chair, I know I was wearing a gown for both though no bra underneath.
Hope you get the all clear.

It did surprise me that in such a large hospital (largest in the region by a long way) whole departments can shut down for 2 days out of 7. But that's how it is I guess. Had my pain been the level it was on Friday I'd have insisted to be there, if just for the pain relief. Baby still feels 8 looooooong weeks away I am trying to be positive as I have my heart so set on a nice birth in the midwife led unit. I know if i keep having to have these injections if a problem's found then that's not a possibility anymore. EVen the thought that I might have a clot has been enough to put me off the pill for life though. It's really made me think.

I had this when pregnant. I had spd and could only walk on crutches which led to a clot on the lung. Had the v/q - was ok, I was upset because of the radiation but they said was minimal risk to baby at that stage of pregnancy (5+ months). Man was really nice, does take a long time but you're lying down.

I was sent in when complained of back/chest pain to doctor who thought it was a PE. Was in waiting to be seen from 7pm -3am Just for them to say, could be pe come back for test and sent me off with injections - clexane, blood thinner, twice a day injection into stomach doesnt really hurt, can leave bad bruising though. You do it yourself which might be a better option for you than going in?

Went back for results and that was a 9 hour wait!

Carried on injections till dd was 6 months old. Will have to have injections from the start if get pregnant again.

If it is a PE and you want to talk re birth options etc pm me

A 9 hour wait for results? Bloody hell. We were told that after the scan we can go back to the acute medical triage unit where we were seen at the weekend to wait for the results. They were very quick and efficient i have to say. I'd better pack a bloody big book in that case. I did wonder why I couldn't just do the injections myself, it seems a comlete waste of the nurses time. I could understand if they needed to take blood pressure every day, but this morning it was in and out after the jab. I did just have one of the GPs call me back to ask for the name of the doctor I saw in hospital as apparently I might need 2 smaller doses a day rather than one bigger one? It's 15000mg of Fragmin but she thought it should be spread into 2 smaller doses. As it is, I'll ask when I'm there tomorrow.
I know our midwife led unit is in the same building as the labour ward and I keep telling myself that the difference will be purely psychological. I'm sure the difference between the actual rooms are minimal, it's just the threat of intervention that I find a bit scarey. I had an induction because of beign overdue with my first, was pretty much limited to the bed because of constant monitoring and ended up with an epidural and felt that the birth was somehting that was done to me iyswim. With ds it was fabulous and something I've been lookign forward to being able to replicate. It does feel a little like that's being snatched away but I am lucky to have a great midwife who I'm sure will advocate for me to have as nice an experience as possible. I may take you up on the offer of a PM tomorrow after we hopefully know what's what :)

You are currently on the treatment dose for PE/DVT, there is a smaller twice daily dose for prevention of DVT during pregnancy which is what she may be thinking of?

But if you get the all clear they will usually just stop it altogether. If you do have a PE you will have been having the correct treatment and they will probably want you to have Warfarin for a while after the birth.

Where I worked, you went to another nearby hospital for the VQ, by the time you came back they had usually phoned us with the results

Honestly it was a nightmare, there were 4 of us waiting for results. They all got theirs first then they came to me and I just knew

I was on clexane which maybe is different to your medication? But it was twice daily injections. I kept on it after the birth rather than switch to Warfarin because you had to keep going to the drs for checks with Warfarin and with a new dd I couldn't be bothered

Dp's parents house is literally a stones throw from the hospital so we may just shuffle off back there if it's going to take ages. I just got the shock of my life when my mum called to say she and dad are going to 'pop in' for a few hours tomorow. They live 5 hours away and my reply was 'I'm not dying you know' but they're coming down to help my grandma clear her house a bit as it's finally sold. But still, they clearly think I'm not well, bless them. My mum was telling me that my dad had to go into the nuclear medicine bit when they thought there was a problem with his heart a few years ago. I remember rushing to his bedside from across the country so clearly the word 'clot' is like a rag to a bull in our family.

Scan all done and no clot :) So am back to a low risk normal pregnancy and no more injections. I cannot tell you the relief, I felt actually faint when we left the hospital, I think I was a lot more worried than I was letting myself believe. It was all very quick, a small injection of stuff into my arm and then into the room to have the scan done. It wasn't going into a giant machine, which was one of my worries, it was just lying on a bed and a special machine was placed close (very close) to my front for 5 minutes, then rotated to each side for 5 minutes. The wait for results was only an hour and it was good news. Thanks so much for all the reassurance. And yes, I did keep my clothes on, right down to my boots

good news, glad to hear it x