DATE: 05/04/2008 18:43:51 / MOOD: sick
29+1
Apologies for not updating this week. Its been one horrid week health wise.
On
Tuesday I was struggling a bit with tightenings and backache. Nothing
too worrying in my eyes. However by early evening something else was
troubling me and even my mum had started to notice.
I suddenly lost all ability to breathe properly.
I
did my peak flow and it had dropped from a good 500/550 to 290. It was
scary. I have not had a peak flow that low in years. Anyway. Paul took
me off to the local NHS walk in centre (which was remarkably empty!!)
and I was seen straight away. After usual checks the nurse decided I
needed to see a GP asap. Luckily the out-of-hours gp was free so was
taken straight through.
She was concerned how low peak flow was and at my obviousl lack of breath.
She
called the labour ward as was worried that the baby would be affected
and they told me I had to go straight in, but not to them but to the
Acute Medical Unit.
So trotted home and got my hospital bag and made our way to the main hospital.
When
we arrived I was admitted immediately and as there were no beds
available on either of the 3 sections I was put in the last remaining
place, a side room with loo etc.
It wasn't nice in there I can
assure you. Its 90% old people and buzzers going off all the time and
wandering violent, disorientated people.
Nurse came and did
admission stuff. Had to answer really long questionnaire (which
incidentally was aimed at the old people. - some seriously stupid
questions)Had to do 2 swabs (MRSA checks on admission) Had to do 2
urine samples, ( I had already done 1 at the walk in centre)
I
then had to wait to see a doctor, this was going to take a while as was
really busy. By this time it was 11pm. I sent Paul home at that point
as he was shattered and it wasn't fair on him to hang around all night.
The
doctor finally came to see me at 1.30am. Definitely wasn't asthma as
wasn't weezing but was still concerned so was but on oxygen via the
nasal tube.
She then took soooooooo much blood it was daft!! I was
also given a clexane injection (which evil evil nurse gave me straight
into bump!) I was sent for a chest xray (which happened at 3.30am)
They decided at 2am that I needed to have a good dose of ventolin so shoved me on a nebuliser for 45mins.
All I wanted to do was breathe and sleep!
Once I had had chest xray they left me to it for a couple of hours.
At 6am I started being sick and was bringing up blood. Not sure what was happening there but it so wasn't nice.
My bp was high for me (127/90)(normal is 90/60)
At
about 9am a consultant came to see me. He had a good listen to chest
etc and discovered that I had a widespread systolic murmur. He ordered
an urgent echo (ultrasound of heart), a doppler of legs as been getting
pains in left leg, urgent referral to obstetrics to check Twinkle was
ok.
An hour or so later another consultant turned up and said
that he wanted me to up my inhalers to 10puffs ventolin & 4 puffs
seretide - 4 times a day.
This in itself was a nightmare as gave me palpitations and nearly passed out.
I
I had my doppler done and that was all clear. There was talk of a
special test called a VQ scan but thankfully they scrapped that idea as
it isn't really recommended in Pg and also doesn't sound very nice.
Thursday
the Obs team came and saw me in the am. Said they wanted me off the
clexane asap as wasn't ideal when threatening pre-term labour.
There was still no sign of the echo being done and they had hoped to send me home as soon as that was clear.
About
3pm 2 docs came and saw me. It turned out my iron levels were low so
they wanted repeat bloods done to recheck levels and do a full iron
study. I was also told an asthma nurse would review me.
Was then called for my echo and that was pretty painless. Was taken back t ward and told that would have results asap.
Anyhow.
At 5pm I was moved out of sideroom as an old man needed it as he was
going to pass away and they wanted to give him dignity so I was moved
onto the main ward next to some old man with dementia who wanted to go
home. Very strange and made me nervous as he kept looking at me.
Come
9pm I felt like I was sat in a sauna. It was soooo hot on the ward. I
was still seriously struggling to breathe and was having really bad
tightenings.
One of the nurses was trying to find things to cool me down but to no avail.
I was eventually allowed to go and stand by the entrance doors as was sooo hot.
It was there that an old man came out in dressing gown with his bag. He was threatening the staff and got too close to me.
I was then told at 1am that I was going to be moved to the Thoracic ward as was quieter up there.
I
evemtually made it up there at 1.30/2am. It was like a sauna, they put
me in a bay furthest from the loo, which was not good when having to go
every 10mins.
Also was with 4 elderly ladies who kept wandering,
moaning, snoring and generally complained if anyone opened a window as
they got cold, even tho it was melting on the ward.
I was onlly waiting to hear what the echo results were so was hoping to be out first thing in the morning.
Oh No! That wasnt going to happen!
Despite chasing the docs all day, they didn't turn up till 5pm!
Conclusion
is that murmur is nothing to worry about, hopefully will go once
Twinkle is here. My iron levels are very very low, (3 instead of 12)
Also pg contributing factor.
So was discharged on iron tablets
(200mg twice a day) also have to make sure see mw (appt is on 9th) and
consultant (scan and appt on 19th). Also will be reviewed by
respiratory team in a few weeks to check if settled down.
They stopped the clexane after my injection in the morning.
So
here we are now on saturday evening, I can't move far as permanently
breathless and have a toddler who is a bit unsure of what to do around
me.
Even reading to him is hard as end up puffing after a few words!
So spent the day lying in bed, occassionally popping down to see my men.
Just going to rest up now and hope breathing eases!!
Its all fun in this house!!!
ho hum
lets just pray twinkle stays put!!
View Entry 
