On December 17th I went to see a Pulmonologist and was diagnosed with asthma. I was already on medication treating this illness but he increased the prednisone I was taking. I also had an increase in what Advair disk (putting me from the 100 once daily to the 250 twice daily).
On Saturday December 20th my wonderful husband changed out our front door. The frame had been there since the house was built in the 1950's. We thought nothing of wearing masks because I never had to before! I swept up all that old dust and cleaned up the wood pieces for him. All without thinking!!! Needless to say ....
By Monday December 22nd I took myself to the hospital at Baylor Grapevine. There they gave me a different nebulizer treatment from what I had been getting. It helped so they sent me home. Earlier in the day I had called the Pulmonologist to ask for more medication and told the receptionist my issues with not doing well. She made an appointment for the following day. So when they released me I knew I'd be seeing my doctor anyway and wasn't upset...
Tuesday December 23rd, when I saw my doctor he was quite upset that they didn't keep me at the ER. Because I'd been on prednisone since December 7th with getting worse - on a high dosage too! Reflecting upon his expression he was staring at me for what seemed like minutes wondering what to do. He finally told me he was on the fence on putting me in the hospital at that point but because I received the new nebulizer medication and did well on it he said I was ok to go home. However he told me that if I couldn't last two hours in between needing a treatment I was going into the hospital!
That night I started struggling. The following day - Christmas Eve - I really struggled! I rationalized it all...if I go the next time without being able to wait the two hours...At around 1:30pm David finally stepped in and took me to the ER. First we called the dr. He called a hospital ahead of us, thankfully David thought to do this because the dr. called back saying that hospital was full of flu patients. No Room At The Inn! <
I can't say enough about the wonderful treatment at Plaza Medical Center in FTW. They were excellent! I stayed until about 4pm on Friday December 26th. Oh while I was there I had visitors come over to see me! Melinda and Keenan Caruthers with their children. It was a sweet visit!
I have struggled to remain out of the hospital though. I probably should have several times but I'm stubborn and I suppose am doing okay. But has this hampered my ability to get well faster? I'm not sure...all I know is that I'm on the max treatment outside of going to the hospital.
Oh - I did go see my PCP on December 31st because of new / worsening symptoms and the other dr was on vacation. I was diagnosed with pleurisy. UGH I had been taking too much of one of the nebulizer treatments (I have 3 kinds to choose from now!) And it dried my mucus up too much and caused this new PAINFUL issue! Dr. Bartos also took blood work because of the cramping in my muscles. He told me I could take magnesium for it, which was a life saver! I was also prescribed potassium but only took it once. It makes me feel really funny....so I've tried to eat a lot of food with high potassium...
Tomorrow I go back to the pulmonologist. David hopes they'll stick me back into the hospital - I think he is tired of seeing me yo-yo back in forth. I really feel that my body doesn't like the oral prednisone and responded best to the IV stuff. It's the only thing that's different. I just hope we get to the bottom of it!
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