Small bump in the road

Life is funny how it seems to sail along just fine for awhile and then wham it grabs your full attention. This attention grabbing moment happened Monday morning when I awoke with a very sore chest. I have the everyday aches and pains but something told me this was something different.

We piled into the van Monday afternoon and drove out to the Community Hospital ER to get checked out. While Theresa parked the van, Dustin and I rolled inside. There were two of the flight nurses at the reception desk and their eyes got a little wide when they saw two guys on ventilators come inside. It kinda cracked me up but hey we got really quick service.

We went over my recent health history and they were concerned that my symptoms were similar to last year when I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung). They took me back to a trauma room and did the usual assessments and my vitals were fine. The doc came in and she said we needed a CT scan to rule out a blood clot.

Last January when I needed a CT, I ended up with a central line because my vein blew out when they tried injecting the dye for the CT. Needless to say I was nervous about a repeat of that. The flight nurse was able to get an IV started in my arm, which is no easy feat. We ended up waiting awhile getting into CT because they had a few more severe traumas come in.

As I was wheeled into CT I was hoping that the IV would hold up for the test. After several nervous moments they were able to inject the dye and the images turned out great. I was really happy and all that was left was waiting for the doc to give us the results.

After about 45 minutes the doctor came into the room and gave us the results. The good news was there wasn’t any sign of a blood clot but the CT showed that I had definite case of pneumonia. My oxygen saturations were really good so at least I wouldn’t have a hospital stay in my future. They gave me some antibiotics and sent me home. I go back next week I believe for a checkup.

Oh well that was the start of my week but at least I feel a bit better. I guess I couldn’t go through winter break without a little excitement. The Pugs have kept close to me and it’s amazing how they can sense when something is up. That’s it for now but I’ll be back after the weekend with another update.

Peace,

Mark