Sunday, May 4, 2008

What a week!

This has been a chaotic week for me. I have been having trouble breathing for about 3 weeks now. We thought my work environment was making me sick, and plant management has been doing a check on the ac units to see if there if a mold/mildew problem. No matter what we have been doing, it is still muggy as all heck in the office. Well, this past Wednesday I wake up at 2:22 am feeling like someone is sitting on my chest. I managed to get my inhaler (that thankfully m coworker wrote for me 2 weeks before) and go into the bathroom. I take my dose and pray that I don't close up my airway completely. I still am having trouble, and I put my cell and inhaler on the bedside table in case I need them. I took my inhaler again at 5:25 and it doesn't help at all. I go to work early so I can set up the office for the day's procedures. I had a feeling I would be leaving , so I wanted all of the contrast and consents ready. ( I work under fluoroscopy on Wednesdays and Thursdays helping to perform pain-blocks). I manage to make it through the morning's procedures so I can go to the Immediate Care clinic at lunch that is attached to our Pain Clinic. (Thank God i work at a huge Medical Complex!!) By the time I get to the counter, I hear someone getting off the phone saying that Dr P___'s nurse is on her way over and she can't breathe. As I lean on the counter my lungs seize up and I can't breathe! They slap some oxygen on me, and the doctor listened to me. I got a stat jet-neb breathing treatment, and after that failed, a steroid shot in the ass. Then came the chest xrays and blood draws. Turns out I had been having an acute Asthma exacerbation and was exhausting myself. The physician was almost going to admit me to the hospital, but decided I WAS OK TO GO HOME. The rest of the week has been a struggle to breathe, and get on with my life. I haven't been able to play Ultimate, and it turns out I have a lung infection so I am on Antibiotics, an inhaled steroid/beta-angonist med, a steroid dose pack, singulair, and my rescue inhaler. All this for a girl who up to two weeks ago only took a BCP!!! It still hurts to take a deep breath, and I pulled a muscle in my upper right chest muscles that makes a deep breath impossible. I have had to go easy at work, and I am so scared that something is going to happen to make me not be able to perform my job. If my workplace is making me ill, then ...gosh, I don't know. I can't not be able to play my sports!
My husband and I are active people, and I need to be able to run around and stay active. I'll keep you updated on what is happening.

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