Saturday, October 25, 2003
Rockin' the ER
Last night I went to a housewarming/Buffy-the-musical-watching party at my friend Debbie's house. I'm not a Buffy fan - in fact I'd never seen a full episode - but I did enjoy the musical. We ate, drank, and were merry. Some of us decided to go back to Victor's to watch Starship Troopers, which I also had never seen. About 20 minutes into it, I started not feeling well, so I went to Victor's bedroom to lie down.
Along comes Mr. Asthma Attack. I have very mild asthma, mostly stress-induced. I went for years without any big attacks, but this year they're back. I don't have an inhaler anymore, so I had bought some Primatene tablets. Victor got them for me, and they didn't help. About an hour and a half later, my friend Aaron volunteered up his inhaler. It didn't help much at all, and within about 30 minutes, the attack was back. This bad boy was constricting my lungs with a vengeance. It hurt so bad. I started worrying about it, and that just made it worse. Then my stomach started hurting. So I started worrying about that too. I can be a bit of a fatalist or whatever.
So around 4am, Victor took me to the emergency room. Now, this was Friday night, and there was no room at the inn. I got put on the fast track because I was having difficulty breathing, but still I waited about 30 minutes for them to call my name. I finally rang the nurse again and told her it was getting worse, which it was. They got me to a room. About 30 minutes later, as the attack was subsiding, the doctor finally came to see me. He ordered a breathing therapy treatment which would help deconstrict (unconstrict?) my lungs and some steriods. About 20 minutes after he left, the breathing treatment lady came. The treatment, which consisted of me breathing in this really foul-tasting vapor from a tube. After she left, 15 minutes elapsed until a guy brought me some steroids to take. After that, I was kind of just left in the room. So I got up and went to the desk, and I asked if I still needed to be there. They said "Yes," in a really patronizing tone. Shortly thereafter, the doctor came to check me out. He said I could go home. It took about 5-10 minutes to get my paperwork done, and then I could finally leave. Poor Victor had waited the whole time in the freezing waiting room with nothing but a shirt.
So now I've slept about 3 1/2 hours. The medicine in the breathing treatment made me jumpy, so I'm awake again. Uggh. I think I'll try to lay down again.
Hey, at least I can breathe!
Last night I went to a housewarming/Buffy-the-musical-watching party at my friend Debbie's house. I'm not a Buffy fan - in fact I'd never seen a full episode - but I did enjoy the musical. We ate, drank, and were merry. Some of us decided to go back to Victor's to watch Starship Troopers, which I also had never seen. About 20 minutes into it, I started not feeling well, so I went to Victor's bedroom to lie down.
Along comes Mr. Asthma Attack. I have very mild asthma, mostly stress-induced. I went for years without any big attacks, but this year they're back. I don't have an inhaler anymore, so I had bought some Primatene tablets. Victor got them for me, and they didn't help. About an hour and a half later, my friend Aaron volunteered up his inhaler. It didn't help much at all, and within about 30 minutes, the attack was back. This bad boy was constricting my lungs with a vengeance. It hurt so bad. I started worrying about it, and that just made it worse. Then my stomach started hurting. So I started worrying about that too. I can be a bit of a fatalist or whatever.
So around 4am, Victor took me to the emergency room. Now, this was Friday night, and there was no room at the inn. I got put on the fast track because I was having difficulty breathing, but still I waited about 30 minutes for them to call my name. I finally rang the nurse again and told her it was getting worse, which it was. They got me to a room. About 30 minutes later, as the attack was subsiding, the doctor finally came to see me. He ordered a breathing therapy treatment which would help deconstrict (unconstrict?) my lungs and some steriods. About 20 minutes after he left, the breathing treatment lady came. The treatment, which consisted of me breathing in this really foul-tasting vapor from a tube. After she left, 15 minutes elapsed until a guy brought me some steroids to take. After that, I was kind of just left in the room. So I got up and went to the desk, and I asked if I still needed to be there. They said "Yes," in a really patronizing tone. Shortly thereafter, the doctor came to check me out. He said I could go home. It took about 5-10 minutes to get my paperwork done, and then I could finally leave. Poor Victor had waited the whole time in the freezing waiting room with nothing but a shirt.
So now I've slept about 3 1/2 hours. The medicine in the breathing treatment made me jumpy, so I'm awake again. Uggh. I think I'll try to lay down again.
Hey, at least I can breathe!
<< Home
