For the third time in my entire life, i turned blue.. literally.
Around August of last year , I was rushed to the ER with the same complaints - Difficulty of breathing, cyanosis, chest tighness. During the ROD's endorsement, he said "No breathe sounds". Kamusta naman ang overly constricted bronchioles? it only meant no air entering my lungs which could actually cause respiratory arrest for me. I remember thinking about going into an arrest while at the ER.
I COULD HAVE DIED THAT DAY!
It happened friday afternoon, when I was alone at our condo unit in WackWack. I was having asthma attacks the night before but I decided to sleep it off, and puffing ventolin was still helping. By noon, my puffer doesn't seemed to be working anymore. Short distance walks, as in 5 steps from where I was sitting) going to the CR became as exhausting as going up and down the stairs for 10 times. Talking on the phone was equally exhausting, so i settled to texting my sister and dj about my condition instead of answering the phone. Standing was a no-no and sitting with my back hunched (think Quasimodo) was the most comfortable position for me.
Good thing my sister has slightly recuperated from her cellulitis and she was going to wack wack hat afternoon. But she was in Commonwealth and I was in Mandaluyong. While on the way, there was an accident of some sort and traffic was horrible. Dj who I was supposed to meet at lunch in Greenbelt was delayed because taxi where no where to be found in Makati (which is weird, right?). My sister finally arrived at around 5pm. 5 minutes before she arrived, my breathing problems really started to get to me.
I didn't want to puff a lot because I heard stories from my parents about their colleague going into arrest because she was puffing ventolin like crazy.
Unfortunately for me, I have to walk from or unit to the elevator, which was the longest 9038943857384 steps of my life. And then again from the lobby to the car. By the time I've got into the car, I was hungry for air. Travel time seemed to take forever as well.
But recovery this time was much faster than last august. By the time I was being transported to the X-Ray room, I was breathing better (thanks to that 02!) and I was in a wheelchair. When I reached my room, everything seemed to be normal. Although the incentive spirometry thinks otherwise, of course. my Expiratory force was way below normal.
They were pretty aggressive with my medications. I was on q1 Nebulization of Combivent for the first night. I was given Symbicort which is actually prescribed for severe asthma and COPD patients for my maintenance, and yes, I am on steriods again. ( I hate taking steriods coz it makes me hungry all the time and I bloat!). By sunday noon, I was out of the hospital.
Now the culprit? I'm not really sure. my new Pulmonologist says it's the wrong medication maintenance that may have been causing the everyday slight asthma attacks since December. Aggravated by the Colds I mysteriously got 2 days prior and maybe that exposure to Manila's polluted air Thursday afternoon when I met my mum at SM West.
So because of the unexpected turn of events, it looked like I went to manila just to be confined in the hospital for the weekend instead of going around Manila with my sorority sisters. bleh!
So now I'm under House Arrest. My mum doesn't want me travelling or being alone, which sucks because I have a lot of escapades planned out. And I hate how she constantly nags me about my asthma, and that have to carry around my nebulizer whenever I travel (kamusta naman yun, dba?). hey! it's not my fault that it runs in the family. And besides they know about my condition in the first place. err!
But no worries, I'm doing good now.
Labels: health
