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Zapped

Posted by on May 16, 2011 2 Comments

I’m not just tired – I’m zapped.

Almost a month ago, I started coming down with a sinus infection. My husband and daughter were also hit pretty hard that week. We spent time at urgent care. We made repeated trips to the pharmacy. We lounged around as a family, consuming ridiculous quantities of Kleenex, Netflix and popcicles. We fought over the thermostat because one of us had the chills or a fever at any given time. Within a week, they were back on their feet, with just a little residual cough.

But not me.

Sinus yuckiness migrated to my chest. I had full blown bronchitis and started another round of steroids. And the cough – the mighty walrus-barking, neighbor-wall-permeating, chesty cough was awful. Painful. Disruptive. Gut-wrenching….as in literally vomit-inducing. My sleep apnea worsened, but I couldn’t properly wear my mask through the night without choking on phlegm. It was gross.

All my doctors say that REST is the best medicine. But what’s a working wife and mom to do? I’ll tell you -  work, and try to keep my husband and daughter happy. I’d push myself to keep going and going until my body collapsed.

And if finally did. I was so exhausted that I started to sleep again. Long, glorious stretches of slumber that would last 5-7 hours! It’s been ages since I could sleep that much! Unfortunately, I also feel tired all the time. If I’m able to grab a nap in the afternoon, I do. I finished up my third round of antibiotics, and finally cleared up the chest yuck with a pill also used to treat anthrax and tuberculosis. Seriously.

So a month later, I’m 10 lbs heavier, weak from so much “rest” and desperate to feel healthy. I started a fitness challenge, Fitness Battle Royale UT (or #FBRUT on Twitter) and I’m trying to push myself without overdoing it. Wish me luck.

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The First ER visit of my 30s

Posted by on February 9, 2010 7 Comments

First off, I had an awesome birthday. And an awesome time Saturday at the #SLCTweetup. Sunday was a tough day.

The morning started out in a wheezing coughing fit. I went to urgent care as soon as they opened. After a quick exam, a listen to my lungs, chest x-ray, and review of my health history, the doctor diagnosed me with “bronchitis with reactive airway inflammation.” He gave me some narcotic cough syrup for the cough, and Advair to restart my maintenance asthma regimen. I spent the day in bed, coughing and wheezing. It felt like my chest was on fire.In the early evening, Taylor and I were laying down and talking. To ease my shortness of breath, I took another puff of Albuterol, which set me off in a coughing fit. After coughing so hard that I couldn’t control bodily functions, my breathing was sporadic enough that Taylor hauled me off to the ER. 15 minutes later, I stumbled into the Mountain View Hospital ER waiting room, with feet numb from lack of oxygen. The ER staff pulled themselves from the Super Bowl, plopped me into a wheelchair, bypassed triage, and took me to bed. They helped me peel off my clothes, dressed me in a gown, and started my examination. My pulse-ox was at 91 and I had a fever of 102.5*. Within 45 minutes, chest x-rays and nasal cultures were done, breathing treatments and steroids administered, and I was finally feeling some relief. They confirmed that my illness was not caused by influenza or H1N1, and concurred with the earlier diagnosis of bronchitis. They gave me a prescription for Z-pak, and told me to get lots of rest. I was in and out in 2 hours. That’s the way an ER visit should be.

Sounds dramatic? To be honest, I’m used to all the lung drama. I’ve mentioned my “organ recital” of medical history in a previous post. I’ve talked about how I got pneumonia after an accidental spray paint inhalation. I’ve talked about how I was “poisoned” at work from inhaling an industrial strength aerosol chemical. If something you can breathe in exists that can make you sick, I’m susceptible to it. This nasty Utah inversion air? Makes me sick. When I say I’m dealing with “SOB,” I mean shortness of breath.
I’ve had asthma since I was 11. I have sleep apnea. I’ve seen pulmonologists in 4 states. I have tried most of the inhalers on the following chart:
But as I went through my old posts, I realized that I never blogged about my biggest lung condition of all, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. ARDS is a life-threatening lung condition that prevents enough oxygen from getting into the blood, typically resulting from trauma or sepsis. I survived it after three weeks on a ventilator. Would anyone like to hear my story?

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My last 24 hours…TMI Alert

Posted by on December 22, 2008 1 Comment

Very ill.
6 hours at InstaCare.
3 liters of lactated ringers.
3 vials of blood.
1 shot of Toradol.
Most likely diagnosis? C. Difficile
Suggested diet? BRAT and popcicles

I feel significantly less ill now that I’m rehydrated. I leave SLC tonight for LAX. I pray that the other travelers are understanding. And I get an aisle seat near the lav.

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Inhalation Hazard

Posted by on December 2, 2008 3 Comments

It was inevitable. Every hospital I’ve ever worked at, I’ve been a patient at. I thought I’d be getting off easy with a freebie at U of M Hospital, but I proved my precedent correct yesterday.

I was feeling a bit exhausted from Sunday’s roadtrip, but otherwise with no illness symptoms. Right after lunch, I went into the tiny closet restroom across from my office, and was floored with a terrible smell. I really needed to relieve myself, so I thought I’d quickly finish and leave. Upon the throne, my eyes, throat, skin, and lungs started burning. My skin started to blotch up. I looked up in the air, and saw little particulates dancing around. I became lightheaded and dizzily fell off. Someone had used the industrial strength disinfectant spray (for cleaning bathroom surfaces) as an AIR FRESHENER, and sprayed it all through the air.

This chemical spray, which should only be used in a WELL VENTILATED AREA…not a little closet bathroom whose fan turns off with the light. And it wasn’t like a little shot of potpourri spray, it was full-on 80′s AquaNet-like sprayage. It was as potent as oven cleaner. There’s a demon sprayer in my department (I still haven’t figured out who) and I’ve left notes before to please be considerate when using this CLEANER to “freshen”. I’m pretty sure I hit the brunt for a very recent spray. For some reason, the environmental services team leaves this aerosol in the department at all time, just because it’s kinda far-flung from the rest of the public restrooms in the building. I started using those far-flung multi-stall public restrooms, but I didn’t yesterday. I learned my lesson.

I immediately sent an email to Safety Management services, who advised me to go immediately to Employee Health. They said they’d send out an “environmental industrial hygienist” to check out the ventilation in the room. My favorite coworker walked me to the Med Inn and waited for me to be evaluated. Employee health checked my vitals, gave me a puff of Ventolin, and had me rest in the lobby for 15 minutes. Still felt shortness of breath, chest tightness, and eye stinging. They suggested that I be evaluated in the ER. So they wheeled me down, I waited an hour to be triaged, another 45 minutes for chest xrays, and finally 3 hours after the exposure got the breathing treatment.

The morning after, I still feel yucky. My eyes still sting, my breathing is slightly labored, and I really don’t feel like working. However, I’ve got a dentist appointment this morning that I have to get out of bed for. They’ll be checking the tooth abscess from the root canal and see if it’s healed enough to do the crown prep. Haven’t I been through enough already?!?

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Albuterol Jitters

Posted by on May 20, 2007 Leave a Comment

This morning I was in urgent care for a few hours with an asthma attack. It took two nebulizer treatments and a shot in the butt of steriods to get my breathing calmed down. I still have chest pain, jitteriness from the albuterol, a headache and bodyaches, and an ear infection. The doc told me to stay off work for two days, but I think I’ll still go in for at least part of tomorrow.

With my health history of lung failure, I get pretty scared when I have severe asthma attacks. I was so short of breath that I could barely drive the 25 minutes to the only urgent care my HMO covers. I’ve been asthma-symptom-free since 2004, so it worries me that I’ve been having symptoms the last week. I’m trying to get a pulmonary/sleep medicine referral through with my PCP. Two months of sleeplessness has brought this immune system down, no doubt.

It’s one thing to get scary-sick….it’s another to have it happen when your husband is across the country. He needs sympathy too…his car got broken into last night. Grr.

So if any of you want to send me get well wishes, or come to my house and wait on me hand and foot…by my guest.

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