Shocking
Sunday morning was very shocking for Randy & I, in the most ridiculous of ways.
Around 5:30am or so, I stumbled onto the couch from the chair I had apparently fallen asleep in while doing some homework the night before. I have been really sick for the past week, so sitting has felt a little better for me anyway. When I lay down these days, my lungs flip out and the inhaler I haven't really needed in almost 4 years is a desperate lifeline. I've had that thing practically glued to my hand in the last week and a half or so.
Anyway, I fell asleep in the chair and decided to just switch to the couch instead of waking Randy up when I realized it was 5 in the morning. He's the type that if he's woken up after about 3am, he's going to stay awake no matter what and I wanted him to get just a little more sleep. I remember falling asleep and I think I was there a few minutes, but it seemed like just seconds later I was running to the restroom feeling like I was going to be *sick*.
Once I got into the bathroom, I started drifting in and out of consciousness and my ribcage hurt side to side so badly I could barely breathe. I was basically just taking big enough breaths to stay alive, but even then I was barely making it. I was stuck. The pain skyrocketed, and I couldn't walk anymore. Crawling around, I began crying, and thank The Lord, Randy heard me. I remember thinking about my speech being slurred and that I could only get basic thoughts out. He touched my back and said it was drenched with sweat. At this point, things are very in and out in my memory. I still have no idea how I got out of the bathroom, but he said he ran into the other room for a minute and when he came back I was on the bed, screaming in pain, breathing in shallow, quick breaths. He took my temperature and it said 94.7 and at the time we thought our thermometer was broken. Later, we tested it on both of us and it said I was 98.6 and he was 97.9, so that's insane.
He was trying to figure out what to do and how to get me to the hospital, and I was trying to think of how I was going to get out of my pjs and out of the door. Finally, I tell him he just needs to call an ambulance. There was no way I could get myself to the car, and I definitely wouldn't be able to wait in a waiting room. I knew I was going in and out of consciousness as it was, and with the way it was going, I was going to pass out on him before he could get me there. With his back, I definitely didn't want him to have to carry me, though he definitely could/would have. I decided to make the call for him since I knew how much pain I was in. He called, and they came within a few minutes.
When the EMTs arrived, they took my blood pressure, and it was 97/32. No, that can't be right. They were using the automatic kind when they took it, so they decided to take it again with a manual blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope. Sure enough, 97/32. For a little perspective, the absolute lowest your blood pressure is ever supposed to be is 90/60. My diastolic (bottom number) was almost half of what it needed to be! Then, they tried to take my temperature and it said "error." Probably because it was almost a full 4 degrees colder than what it's supposed to be! When we got to the ER, their thermometer said "error," too, so they got another one, and it wouldn't take my temperature either. I guess I was too cold for them to read it? Crazy.
From everything Randy & I have read, your bp and temp crashing like that is your body going into shock. If that's the case, it's somewhere I never want my body to be again. I don't think I've ever thought I was going to die more than that hour or so before my blood pressure stabilized at the hospital. That sounds really dramatic, but it was terrifying. I remember praying, begging The Lord to fix it and make it better. I didn't want to go to the hospital, but it's where I ended up.
At the hospital, they decided I had a really bad case of bronchitis and I most likely damaged the muscles around my lungs/ribs/diaphragm, causing the severe pain within the "chest wall." So I'm on a steroid, a z-pak, a new inhaler, and I'm supposed to use a pillow as a brace when I cough so I'm not putting all the pressure on my body. By the time I got to the hospital, things had regulated enough to the point that I wasn't screaming in pain anymore, but I was still having a hard time breathing. They were really concerned that my heart was still racing, but they gave me a breathing treatment anyway - basically the same thing in an inhaler but you breathe it in for about 20 minutes. It makes your heart race, too, but it helps your breathing. Once one was fixed the other seemed to resolve itself more. They got us out in a little less than 3 hours and I was still really weak, but much better. Definitely a "Praise The Lord" for everything working out! He really took care of us.
As for the shock, I most likely got really, really, really dehydrated, as I'm on the medicine that reduces the fluid/pressure around my brain still (read: removes fluid from my body), and the night I fell asleep in the chair I was under a heated blanket. Randy thinks I accidentally had it up too high and sweated all night to the point of intense dehydration, made worse by the fact that I've been really sick. Basically, it was a perfect recipe for a huge disaster.
I'm getting better, though :) Yay! I have instructions from my doctor to stay home from work and school until Wednesday and I go see Dr. P tomorrow afternoon for a followup!
Moral of the story: make sure you don't sleep under heated blankets turned up on high.
You might die.
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| this is my "shocked!" picture :) p.s. DO NOT put "shocking" into google images... |
Around 5:30am or so, I stumbled onto the couch from the chair I had apparently fallen asleep in while doing some homework the night before. I have been really sick for the past week, so sitting has felt a little better for me anyway. When I lay down these days, my lungs flip out and the inhaler I haven't really needed in almost 4 years is a desperate lifeline. I've had that thing practically glued to my hand in the last week and a half or so.
Anyway, I fell asleep in the chair and decided to just switch to the couch instead of waking Randy up when I realized it was 5 in the morning. He's the type that if he's woken up after about 3am, he's going to stay awake no matter what and I wanted him to get just a little more sleep. I remember falling asleep and I think I was there a few minutes, but it seemed like just seconds later I was running to the restroom feeling like I was going to be *sick*.
Once I got into the bathroom, I started drifting in and out of consciousness and my ribcage hurt side to side so badly I could barely breathe. I was basically just taking big enough breaths to stay alive, but even then I was barely making it. I was stuck. The pain skyrocketed, and I couldn't walk anymore. Crawling around, I began crying, and thank The Lord, Randy heard me. I remember thinking about my speech being slurred and that I could only get basic thoughts out. He touched my back and said it was drenched with sweat. At this point, things are very in and out in my memory. I still have no idea how I got out of the bathroom, but he said he ran into the other room for a minute and when he came back I was on the bed, screaming in pain, breathing in shallow, quick breaths. He took my temperature and it said 94.7 and at the time we thought our thermometer was broken. Later, we tested it on both of us and it said I was 98.6 and he was 97.9, so that's insane.
He was trying to figure out what to do and how to get me to the hospital, and I was trying to think of how I was going to get out of my pjs and out of the door. Finally, I tell him he just needs to call an ambulance. There was no way I could get myself to the car, and I definitely wouldn't be able to wait in a waiting room. I knew I was going in and out of consciousness as it was, and with the way it was going, I was going to pass out on him before he could get me there. With his back, I definitely didn't want him to have to carry me, though he definitely could/would have. I decided to make the call for him since I knew how much pain I was in. He called, and they came within a few minutes.
When the EMTs arrived, they took my blood pressure, and it was 97/32. No, that can't be right. They were using the automatic kind when they took it, so they decided to take it again with a manual blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope. Sure enough, 97/32. For a little perspective, the absolute lowest your blood pressure is ever supposed to be is 90/60. My diastolic (bottom number) was almost half of what it needed to be! Then, they tried to take my temperature and it said "error." Probably because it was almost a full 4 degrees colder than what it's supposed to be! When we got to the ER, their thermometer said "error," too, so they got another one, and it wouldn't take my temperature either. I guess I was too cold for them to read it? Crazy.
From everything Randy & I have read, your bp and temp crashing like that is your body going into shock. If that's the case, it's somewhere I never want my body to be again. I don't think I've ever thought I was going to die more than that hour or so before my blood pressure stabilized at the hospital. That sounds really dramatic, but it was terrifying. I remember praying, begging The Lord to fix it and make it better. I didn't want to go to the hospital, but it's where I ended up.
At the hospital, they decided I had a really bad case of bronchitis and I most likely damaged the muscles around my lungs/ribs/diaphragm, causing the severe pain within the "chest wall." So I'm on a steroid, a z-pak, a new inhaler, and I'm supposed to use a pillow as a brace when I cough so I'm not putting all the pressure on my body. By the time I got to the hospital, things had regulated enough to the point that I wasn't screaming in pain anymore, but I was still having a hard time breathing. They were really concerned that my heart was still racing, but they gave me a breathing treatment anyway - basically the same thing in an inhaler but you breathe it in for about 20 minutes. It makes your heart race, too, but it helps your breathing. Once one was fixed the other seemed to resolve itself more. They got us out in a little less than 3 hours and I was still really weak, but much better. Definitely a "Praise The Lord" for everything working out! He really took care of us.
I'm getting better, though :) Yay! I have instructions from my doctor to stay home from work and school until Wednesday and I go see Dr. P tomorrow afternoon for a followup!
Moral of the story: make sure you don't sleep under heated blankets turned up on high.
You might die.
In other news, MY BIRTHDAY IS WEDNESDAY!!!! :):):)
Hope you have a lovely week! I'll probably try to write another post sometime soon...maybe I'll even write a birthday post? Who knows?! Oh, and about the pictures in this post...yeah, I didn't have any pictures, but I wanted to include some, so I found some fun cat pictures :) Hope you enjoyed them!
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I love you so much! I am so glad you are okay!! Praying for you always! <3
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