Bad to Worse With Some Good Thrown in…

It has been a rough couple of days. On Friday morning, I began having some breathing difficulties at work. The floor crew had waxed a portion of the department directly outside the department in which I work. The humidity in the store was pretty high and there were no fans or anything pushing the fumes the other way. After a few hours and nearly passing out, I told a co-worker I needed to sit. I asked another to call our Night Crew Chief. He came over, took one look at me, and directed someone to call 9-1-1. Two paramedics and 3 firefighters later, I was taken to the hospital, feeling extremely embarrassed! At the hospital they believed I had experienced an allergic reaction to something in the wax. They gave me a couple nebulizer treatments and sent me on my way. About 12 hours later, I found myself back in respiratory distress, leading Jeff to take me to an Urgent Care facility. There they did a chest x-ray which came back negative, so the doctor assumed an irritated, inflamed airway and gave me Prednisone and an Albuterol inhaler.

Here we are 3 days later and the symptoms are worse. I went to our Worker’s Compensation doctor’s office where they determined, after another chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, that I have Acute Chemical Bronchitis. The chemicals irritated way down into the alveoli, causing nasty respiratory symptoms. I am still, however, maintaining O2 Sats of nearly 100%, and a heart rate near 50! Sure wish I could breathe though! If I talk too much (more than a sentence) or I walk too far (more than about 10 feet) I start gasping. Taking a deep breath is almost non-existent except for right after the inhaler. The Worker’s Comp. doc increased the length and frequency of the Prednisone and also put me on a steroid inhaler.

After delivering paperwork, picking up prescriptions, and talking to people at work, we had to pick up Erin at her first day of hockey camp. We got there a little early and I carefully (at a turtly pace) walked in to take a couple pictures.

That’s her in the net.

She saw us watching and waved…silly girl!

After picking her up Sarah called and ordered dinner from a local healthy Mediterranean style place for take-out. For some reason I didn’t feel like cooking dinner, lol! While I waited in the Jeep for Jeff and Sarah to get the food, this guy came along to entertain me.Sorry they are a little fuzzy, I was shooting through the windshield.

Now, I am going to go rest for the rest of the night! And try to breathe…