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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Teeth gritting breathing

I woke up Friday morning at 1:30 from a bad dream. And realized I couldn't breathe and that I was in scary pain. I tried to lay there for an hour and the pain only got worse and worse. I will back up that Thursday I popped my head into my Onc's office without notice right after my radiation appointment to tell him something terrible was wrong with me and I didn't want to wait until Friday to get the echho, like I had set up with my Cardio over the phone on Wednesday. I got a chest X-ray, and eccho cardio gram, and a CT scan of just the chest that day, (yeah, I din't have to drink the contrast this time because the didn't need to see my stomach guts, just my chest) and all these tests just showed a small to moderate level of water in the linings around lungs and heart. Nothing like last time and nothing to be causing me to feel with such severe pain.
Well I woke up D at 2:30 finally and said through gritting teeth and very very shallow breath I may need him to bring me to the emergency room. I stood up and walked out to try to watch TV, I was in severe pain, much much worse than last time. So, I remembered in the back of my head My Onc. saying that I can call him at home anytime of day or night, and so I did. For the first time, if this gives you any clue of how much pain and fear I was in. My heart hurt. It felt for days, but tonight 25% worse that my heart had a charlie horse in it. I was in so much pain that I couldn't be freaked out, but I was scared and I knew this when my Onc answered the phone.
In his groggy its 2:40ish voice, Hello. I said this is Heather Bakstad. And he said, hello kiddo. This made me start to cry. I said, I am in so much pain. I started to get tears but it hurt worse to cry so I stopped. I said something is terribly wrong. I through gritting teach and shallow talk and breath said, Doc I can't breath. I am in so much pain. What do I do?
He called the ER ahead, and D and on got dressed to go. I couldn't even bend over to put on my shoes as the pain in my chest was just exploding.
We got to the ER at 3 and did the run around with people that knew nothing of all the things that I've gone through. Luckily My Onc called ahead and spoke with the ER doc that was going to be dealing with me. We waited and waited, I did another CT scan but an angio one to look for clots. They had to give me less IV contrast because because I had just had one the day before. D left afterwards, he had guys showing up at your house to do some work and he needed to be there. And frankly, I was exhausted, he was exhausted, and I knew at this point I was getting admitted. And lord knows how long that would take.
So, he left I feel in and out of sleep. I started sleeping thanks to the pain med they gave me, Delotted. The first dose took the edge off but not the pain. So on an empty stomach I had another dose around 8. The problem was was that I do not do good on pain med's allergic to most. This one works and I needed it as teh pain was going up to between 7-8. 6 is tolerable. I called my onc at a 10.
So, I started puking and puking for hours. I puked and got a headache until 3 in the afternoon. Luckily the steroids started doing the work, or was it the delotted taking away the pain, not sure. But the pain in my chest is gone and I just spent the rest of the day healing from the pain meds. Ick.
The strange thing that happened is just before we left to come to the ER I took 3 advil, as this is what my cardio wanted me to do the past few days. Which never took even the edge off of the pain (down to an 8) I was experiencing. But this time, maybe because I was in such a new level of pain, it did. My the first hour past being in the ER, I was able to stop the teeth breathing and the shallow talk. I still couldn't take in normal breaths, but not scary, am I going to die breaths.
So more good news, now for sure I've done every test known to man, and I have no blood clots.
The cuplrit was the excercise.
Its been months, and my Onc an my Cariod's said it was okay to start my excersice regime. A few weeks ago I started walking a few miles, then I started with ittzy bitzy 5 lb weights lifting. Never making myself sore, just saying hello to the muscles again. And so, like the 3 of us agreed on, I could start running slowly. So I did. AND IM PRETTY INTUNE WITH MY BODY. It felt great, I stopped when I got out of breath, just like before cancer. You got to work yourself up into being able to exercise, it doesn't feel good to anyone when getting started.
So, I felt great, during, and afterwards. TUesday night came with a venegance, and its only gotten worse. Well, so if there isn't water in my linings that is causing this pain, and also, why this time is it hurting so much worse?
Its because of the lack of water to cushion, and my exercising made those organs, and linings, and such rub against one another and caused extreme inflammation. Because the initial diagnosis inflammation had not gone away, it tricked Me, it tricked My Onc, and it tricked my Cardio's. : (
SO, I am in the hosptial again. WIll leave Sunday monring if everything goes good. I am getting mega doses of predisone again, 140 mg every 8 hours. I had to take a sleeping pill and I got to sleep at least 5 hours last night.

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