Feeling, much, much better... thank you

I have not blogged in what seems like eons... my time in the summer can be quite limited, and with being a third shift worker with limited internet access at work, it can be a challenge...

Lately, I have had some health issues, and I will fill you all in on it. Going back to June, our Wisconsin summer took a turn for the wet - lots of rain, record rain - the longest we have gone without rain is about 6 days, and when it rains, good golly Miss Molly, it will rain like there is no tomorrow. Yesterday we got a thunderstorm - two and a half inches in two hours, streets flooded, we lost power for a short time... and this has been a regular occurence.

And when it is not raining, our humidity is in the 70-75% range - which is not much by Southern standards, but rather moist and uncomfortable for Cheesehead standards. So the rain and humidity have pitched in to cause some rather high mold levels in the allergy index...

Another contributor might could be, not sure yet, but in June, my daughter's boyfriend gave her a kitten, and little Ruthie could be a factor of causing me further allergy issues. I was diagnosed with asthma about five years ago, and have had seasonal allergies for some time, so it could have impacted me when my immune system was being taxed by other things. Until June of this year, I did not even know where my inhalers were, my asthma was under control and not an issue at all.

So this nagging little dry hacking cough started, and pretty soon I recognized it as my old friend asthma. I found my inhalers and it kept it somewhat under control. As June stretched into July, and I was deeply immersed in my son's marching band season, my sleep time got severely compromised... to the point that if I got four hours of sleep a day, that was a lot... so as mentioned, my immune system was being overtaxed... At work, we started being mandated overtime, so I was putting in 9-10 hour days, six days a week, and I was starting to feel really run down... the cough didn't go away, and started worsening.

Marching band season ended mid-July, but by then, I had to start catching up on stuff that hadn't gotten done around the house and yard, and we had some nasty warm, humid spells mixed in with that... cough, cough, cough... by early August, the inhalers were not doing anything, and the sleep I was getting, was interrupted by the hacking cough. My ribs started to hurt, because I was coughing so much, and not really coughing anything up, no phlegm, just wheezing, and being short of breath.

Last week at work, I finally told my boss at the end of my shift Friday morning, that I had taken several unscheduled breaks in the office to just catch my breath, have some coughing jags and just try to rest, because I was exhausted. He told me to go home and get some rest, and I was more than happy to comply. I didn't sleep at all Friday night because of the coughing, and my son took me to the walk-in clinic at our doctor's office Saturday morning. As soon as he saw me, he heard the wheezing (before even taking a listen with a stethoscope) and said "sounds like pneumonia..." listened to my chest, and said "Wow." He ordered a chest x-ray and white count. White count was normal, and I had no temperature... but the x-ray showed my right lung had a white cast to half the area... he and I both concluded, pneumonia - I had pneumonia before, and this sure felt like it.

He gave me a couple different kind of meds - antibiotics for the infection in my lungs, cough suppressant with codeine to help me sleep, and told me to use my albutoral inhaler as much as I needed. The rest of Saturday wasn't too bad, as I was relieved to have taken some course of action to get me better. Sunday was not too good - I wasn't sleeping yet, the cough suppresant wasn't working too well, and each coughing jag was like someone having batting practice with my rib cage... Monday wasn't better, probably the worst day of all. I went to see the doctor again later that day, he gave me a nebulizer treatment, which helped. He gave me a prescription for prednisone, and told me that it was likely a severe asthma attack, and not pneumonia. He also gave me something for allergies, in case something was at play there as well.

So I had a pretty comprehensive battle plan in place - something for pneumonia, something for allergies, something for asthma... What happened next was pretty grim. Albutorol has a stimulant in it - and after the nebulizer treatment, I could feel the elevated heart rate. The prednisone also has a stimulant in it - it is a steroid and anti-inflammatory to fight the inflammation in my lungs. My heart rate soared, but nothing yet had kicked in to help my breathing, and so it felt like my breath stopped at neck level. I started having a panic attack, yelled at my kids, I couldn't sit down because I couldn't get comfortable, and couldn't stand because I was exhausted... my kids were pretty scared.

Back to the doctor, and he concluded that I needed to be hospitalized. I got there about 8:30 Monday night, and the resident who admitted me said my wheezing was out of control and quite "impressive." A quick nebulizer treatment helped a bit, but the heat rate was in the 130-140 range, almost double my resting pulse rate... they put me on oxygen, and gave me the prednisone in an IV... by morning I was so much better... it seemed to have finally gotten to the inflammation... and throughout the day on Tuesday I improved more.

They didn't want to let me go, because a normal person's oxygen saturation level is around 95%, and I couldn't get mine over 90. Finally a respiratory therapist showed me some breathing techniques, and by around 4 yesterday afternoon, I was cleared to go home. I had great care in the hospital, it was a brand new section of the hospital, great nurses, CNA's, doctors, staff - everyone... I got back home around 8:30 last night, and spent a restful seven hours in my own bed.

Not out of the woods yet, completely - meds for a spell yet, I have my very own nebulizer to help me if breathing gets compromised again, but all in all, I am much, much better. Thanks to everyone for your care and concern.

Though it wasn't pleasant, and I care not to experience it again, if this is the worst thing that happens to me, I am truly blessed. I have much for which to be thankful...

(hmmm... don't seem to have the ability to post pictures, what's the deal?)