Hospital Stay-Part 1

Some many things have suddenly happened in the last days that I am still trying to come to terms with and trying to work out exactly what had happened. Well, all I remember is my cough got worse overnight on fri/sat. I got up at 3am on sat struggling to breathe. It was really scary cos I couldn't get enough air in my lungs and I felt I was suffocating. My chest felt like something was restraining it and I coudln't inhale air properly, I was wheezing and coughing and coudln't feel I was inhaling air. I panicked and woke Rick up which was difficult cos I couldn't get a word out of my mouth. I shook him and he was blur but after 15 mins or so, i finally got him to sit up and i think only then did he realise I was in trouble. U must be wondering why we didn't call for the ambulance...well, I thought that would pass later in the morning. But it didn't. Morning came and we called my Chinese Doc. He said to go in and see him at 2 pm. so we waited and I was getting bad. I kept struggling to breathe and was really starting to panic. The doc's place is only 3 mins walk from our apartment but I couldn't do it. so we called for a taxi. putting my coat on, wearing my shoes, trying to get to the door was too much.

getting downstairs was a nightmare! I had to sit really still on the stairs to wait for the taxi. and it was football day so taxis were scarce. it was a struggle getting into the taxi but I managed. when we got to the doc's place, Rick had to half carry me into the doc's office. The doc took one look at me and said 'we must send her to the hospital now!' by then, I was sobbing for breathe and was really in a panic. But I remember this stupid woman who works at the tattoo shop opposite the doc poking her head in and asking if I was pregnant! hahahha..if I was dying, i would hv screamed at her!!! I suppose she meant well. anyway, the doc and Rick bundled me out looking for a taxi again. there was none so rick had to call for one which took 20 mins to get there. everyone who saw me was worried and was asking if I was ok. in the taxi, i felt like i was suffocating so i had to have the windows down and was fighting for air. The taxi driver got scared I think and tried to get to the emergency unit as quickly as he could. but the ride was rough on my breathing.

by the time, we got to the emergency unit, it was a struggle getting into the lobby. and we had to register me which I coudln't do cos I had no breathe. The stupid receptionist kept asking why I don hv an NHS number why I don have a GP here. Stupid! Rick was getting annoyed by then. So we sat down and waited for about 2 hours before a nurse came to look at me. after a few questions and seeing how i was struggling to breathe, they wheeled me in finally!

Before that, while we were waiting, a man was discharged. I think he and his wife are either on NHS relief or was a case with someone or something. Anyways, they didn't have enough money for the taxi to their house. The Case Worker didn't have enough as well so she was going in and out of the emergency unit lobby trying to get in touch with the man's family or something to work something out. That went on like for almost half an hour. The Caseworker was outisde making a call and Rick went out to her and gave her £20 cos they had £10 already for the taxi home. This man is really one in a million!!! I was so touched and proud of what he did.

Ok so after 2 hours of waiting, they finally wheeled me in and interviewed me which Rick had to answer for me cos I coudln't answer. They put me on Nebulisers and oxygen to open my airways cos they suspected I was having an asthma attack but I didn't hv asthma then. So they put me on that and left cos there was a trauma in emergency. so while i was on the oxygen, I wasn't struggling that much. They put me in for a chest x-ray and brought to another assessment room to see doctors to figure out what was wrong with me cos when they take the oxygen away, I was struggling again. So again an interview of my medical history, so they can figure what was happening to me, whether it was asthma, lung infection, pneumonia or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cos I smoke.


I had to do an ECG test, blood tests, speaking test, x-ray. The killer was when the doc asked that I do a arterial blood gas test(ABG). That hurt like mad cos they can only take blood from an artery on my wrists for that test to see how much oxygen and carbon dioxide i was taking. Think of the pain of a normal blood test taken from a vein on ur elbow and multiple that by 5-8 times cos the artery is deeper and smaller and they hv to dig for it. It took the doc, a pediatrician, 3 times to get blood from the artery. Imagine feeling a needle in the middle of ur wrist near the bone! Not nice!!! It's been a week now and my wrists are still bruised and the needle holes are still there, where they stuck the needles in are still sore and I don hv much strength in my wrists and I feel the sore when i use strength from my wrists. I suppose it's the artery which is brusied and sore and not the muscles. sigh!!!

Then after about 4 hrs, they decided they want me to stay overnight in a ward because I couldn't do without the oxygen. While deciding which ward to put me in, they dumped me into a normal ward first with about 5 rounds of docs coming to see me every half hour or so asking me the same questions about my medical history. And more arterial blood tests and normal blood tests, more Nebulisers and oxygen and drips and magnesium drip. So we were in that ward for about 5 or 6 hours. Then at about 11+pm, they decided to move me to the HMU(Higher Monitering Unit)which is apparently one unit away from ICU. Cos my pulse was 155+ and wasn't going down and I couldn't breathe without oxygen. I'm still trying to fit in some missing bits and pieces of what happened these few days.

So that was what happened on Sat. This post actually took 3/4 of today to finish. I'll continue telling my adventure in my next post. Oh the pics will be blur cos my hands kept shaking from all the Nebulisers and steroids I was on.