Breathing Disguised As Blessings

“He huffed and he puffed and”… and there wasn’t any wind. Kind of like the big bad wolf with asthma. So now I know how it feels. Scary. But first, a warning. If you don’t like to read about other people’s ailments and hospitalizations, this would be a good place to log out. No hard feelings.

Before I tell about the memorable Memorial Day I need to go back a week. I haven’t blogged for quite awhile so it’s okay. This would be the Monday before Memorial Day we’re talking about. I mowed the lawn and was really panting for air when I finished. I just thought I was out of shape and needed to do more walking. I’d already scouted out an “around the block” that is one mile and an “around the BIG block” that is 1.4 miles. Tuesday morning I pinched a nerve in my back taking a shower. All I did was bend over to wash my feet. This has happened a few times in the past but fortunately not very often. For the next few day, I wore a back brace, walked bent over, and gritted by teeth.

About the this time the bursitis in my left shoulder decided to flare up so that hurt more than usual. Then toward the end of the week I developed flu-like systems – achy, temperature, but not sick to my stomach. This all slowed me down even more and I did almost nothing for about three day. I didn’t even go to church Sunday!!! Now, I’m telling all this to say that it wasn’t a real good week. I don’t know if any of it had anything to do with subsequent events but it sure slowed me down. Joyce and I had talked about various things to do on Memorial Day weekend but hadn’t decided on anything. If we had, we wouldn’t have done them anyway. When I got up and walked around the house it caused me to breath really hard.

Memorial Day Monday I knew I needed some exercise so we went over to Wal-Mart in the afternoon. I walked around holding on to a shopping cart. It was good. I wasn’t too tired. We even considered going to Lowes but decided against it.

That evening I walked out to the garage with some recycle stuff – 70, 80 feet round trip. When I got back to my recliner I was really sucking for air. And it didn’t get better. I remember a pastor who held people he was baptizing under water until they begin to squirm. When he was asked why, he replied, “I want them to want Jesus as bad as they want air.” I was there. Joyce called Ginger to come over to spend the night. Just in case, you know. By the time she got here at 9:50 I was ready to go the ER. I guess I looked pretty bad because all the lady at window wanted was my ID and a man was standing right behind me with a wheelchair!

The first thing they did in the ER room was give me oxygen with one of those little things in my nose. Aaaah, that was sooooo good. Finally some air. The little oxygen meter they put on my finger indicated I was at 71 (normal is 95 to 100). Somewhere along the line they put in an IV and got a chest x-ray. The doctor finally came in and declared that I had pneumonia. We joked about that because I had gotten my pneumonia shot. I said I was going to ask for my money back (actually Medicare paid for it). However she wasn’t letting go of it. Certain things just didn’t add up for her so she ordered a CAT scan. The results showed I had a pulmonary embolism. A what??

What I understand about these things is that there is a clot in my right leg – an ultra sound proved this. Part of it broke off, went to my lung (the place these things go), divided into parts and lodged in various parts of my lung. So that’s the story.

I got to a room – I later found out it was in the sub-critical care part of the hospital – about 3:00 a.m. They had me on a heparin drip and Coumadin pills the rest of my hospital stay. I was transferred to a regular room after a couple days and finally went home Friday afternoon. One complication in all this was that they would not let me go home without a primary care physician. Joyce and I had talked about getting one but really didn’t know which one to pick and couldn’t get any good recommendations. Of course, this brought things to the “do it now” point. Between Joyce, Ginger, and my niece Kandy they found a doctor who would accept us (Joyce also). I’ll see him next week. Right now I’m being monitored every three days for the anticoagulation level in my blood – it’s called the INR. They adjust the Coumadin to keep it in the proper range.

Want to know about blood clots? Just ask me. I’m an “expert” now – at least a lot smarter. I’m told the body will eventually absorb the clots. What they want to do is keep any more from developing.

We really feel blessed with all the good care I received. I’m guessing that I encountered 40 different individuals in the hospital (Joyce counted 28 in the first 8 hours or so). They were all fantastic. We are especially grateful to the ER doctor who wouldn’t give up with a simple answer. I appreciate all the people who were praying for me – people I don’t even know. We have a great church; they were praying, some came to visit, others sent cards. Joyce and Ginger were great. Joyce spent every night with me in the hospital. This was a great help because I didn’t have to wait for a nurse. She even learned how to give me shots. For the first 3 days after my discharge I had to have shots of electrolux… no, equinox… no, that’s not right either. Joyce says they were Lovanox – more blood thinner. A little poke in the fat part of the belly. No problem finding a spot there!

So now it is recovery. I’m doing better each day. Still a little short of breath and weak in the legs but it’s coming. I think when this is all past us, I will feel better than I have in quite a while. If you were one who was praying, thank you.

Blessings.