Sunday at the ER

I'll preface this by saying my sister came up a day earlier than planned because I was feeling rotten. She got here yesterday.

And today she took me to the emergency room.

I felt terrible when I got up. And my breathing was worse instead of better. More wheezing, more gasping for air when I exerted myself. And add nausea and a lot of joint pain this morning. And a concern that pneumonia can easily get out of hand and cause big problems.

I called my oncology office, but honestly, the nurse who talked with me was no help. The ER seemed the best place to get answers or help on a Sunday

My sister and I loaded up and headed into Chattanooga around 11:30 am. I knew from last time to expect it to be COLD in the ER so I had Karla round up fleece jackets and a hooded vest and a toboggan (which for us Southerners is a winter knit cap). We took a small pillow I had in my car. We ended up using all of this, either to keep me warm or to put under my knees because...

The ER didn't have any pillows!! No pillows!! Zero, zip, nada! Can you believe that??

ANYHOW flash forward to arrival at the ER. They took my BP and checked my blood oxygen levels right away, and I'd hardly sat down when they called me back for bloodwork. That was in the hallway of the ER, in front of the nurses' station.

Well, I did NOT have good luck today with the vein stickers. The first one stuck me twice without getting any blood. Then she deferred to the resident vein whisperer who did manage to get an IV into my wrist, but boy howdy, it HURT!

A doc talked with me during this time to try to figure out what tests I needed.

Then I got light-headed. And guess what? There was no way to lay me back with my feet up. In the ER! My BP dropped and I tried to fight off passing out. The good thing about that was that it got me into a room sooner.

Once in a room they got me hooked up to all of the typical machines, and the nurse tried to draw blood. He had no better luck. I'd just had someone draw blood on Wednesday, first try, hardly any pain. But today was the complete opposite. It was my roughest day yet with having blood drawn or an IV put in. All three who tried managed to cause a lot of pain. Is the weather a factor in getting a good stick? Something sure seemed to make today the worst ever.

Anyhow the other tests—urine, Covid, flu, EKG—turned out fine.

And the main test, the one that allowed me to come home, was a CT scan with contrast.

Turns out I do NOT have pneumonia!!

And I don't have a blood clot in my lungs.

The radiologist who read my chest x-ray on Wednesday said there might be pneumonia. But the CT scan today didn't show pneumonia. Apparently both my oncologist and primary care PA decided on antibiotics in case I did have pneumonia.

So I've been taking rough antibiotics for what turns out to be no reason. I'm so glad I get to stop those!

I do have some lung issues. I'm pretty sure my oncologist will refer me (on Tuesday when I see her as scheduled) to a pulmonologist. The ER doc mentioned that the CT showed a possible type of fibrosis. Something IS affecting my breathing. My mother had COPD and never smoked, so that's aways in the back of my mind.

But my blood oxygen level doesn't drop much at all with exertion. The nurse checked that with me walking in the hall with my walker while hooked up to the blood oxygen machine. It dropped to 93 but not into the 80s, and though I gasped for air, the levels went to 96 pretty quickly.

After talking with my oncology on-call doc and finding out my blood oxygen level doesn't drop a lot on exertion, the ER doc asked if I was okay with him sending me home.

Of course!!

My main concern was of pneumonia that antibiotics weren't helping. And since I DON'T have pneumonia, then I feel comfortable at home and waiting to talk with my oncologist on Tuesday.

I got home a little after 5 pm. I still have some nausea. I still have big joint pain. I still can't breathe easily when I move around.

But I don't have pneumonia!

And my sister is here, taking care of me, doing things around the house, driving me to appointments, doing whatever I need. We'll be together for Christmas.

Even though I'm not feeling great, I can deal with the nausea and pains and difficulties breathing.

Because my pneumonia worries are no more! (At least not now). Whew!