As much as I did not want to, I went to the University Hospital of Augusta’s Emergency Room Monday night. I am so glad that I did! I did not have to wait long before I was taken back into the Emergency Department and the nurses started treating me as soon as I was settled. Every one of the staff I encountered was very nice, professional and efficient. My dad is the one who drove me there, and despite my efforts to kick him out – so he could go home and rest – he stayed.

Before the doctor saw me – even before respiratory had a chance to show up – a nurse administered a breathing treatment, my vitals were assessed, blood was drawn, an IV was started, and I was giving Solu-Medrol (Steroids) through the IV. I was very impressed with how quickly they started to implement procedures to make me feel better. Not long after all of those things were done, I was taken to x-ray and some chest x-rays were taken. Having chest x-rays when you are short of breath, wheezing and have chest tightness are normal. It is the way a doctor can determine if your symptems are being caused by either pneumonia or bronchitis.

After I came back from x-ray – nothing wrong showed up in the x-rays that were taken – I was given another breathing treatment. I was feeling rather discouraged and thinking that I might have to be admitted. I just did not feel as if my breathing was any better. My oxygen saturation levels were still acceptable, however, in an asthmatic those numbers can be misleading. In every asthma flare I have had, my oxygen levels have always stayed within acceptable levels. At the stage of the flare I am usually in when I seek help, my biggest problem is not that I cannot get air in, it is trying to expel the used up air. The stuff with all the carbon dioxide in it. That is why things like a peak flow meter are a must have for asthmatics. They are a simple device that we can use to get an idea of how much our lungs are able to clean themselves out when they exhale.

My dad was great! It seemed like it was taking so long for me to feel better, and it was getting very late. My father gets up very early for work, and I knew he was getting tired. Every once in a while he would doze off – while watching a football game – in one of those hard hospital chairs. He did leave the room – it sort of looked like he was running – when the nurse who started my IV had to stick me more than once to get the IV started. Dad hates that part. My mother and I are hard sticks and he knows that sometimes it can take a great many attempts to get IV’s started on us. At one point, he wandered off and came back with a bag of ruffles – cheddar and sour cream flavor. After he ate those he dozed off again. I was messing around with my phone and started to hear a rustling sound. When I looked up, dad was pulling a decent sized bag of Reeses Pieces out of his back pocket. He had gotten those out of the snack machine too.

Knowing that I could be there for a long time, I kept trying to get dad to leave. I told him I could call him whenever I was discharged, and that way he might be able to get some decent sleep at the house. No matter how much I tried to convince him I was fine in the ER by myself he would not leave. After a while, I gave up. I thought I was stubborn, my dad is definitely more stubborn than I am. I did think it was very sweet and considerate of him to want to stay there with me.

When my breathing started to improve, it was like it happened instantly. Once second I was chugging away – wheezing and miserable – the next second my chest felt less tight, there was barely any wheeze, and my agitation – from having to work so hard to breathe – had gone away. Shortly after that, a nurse and the doctor came in with some discharge papers and a prescription for prednisone (oral steroids).  I can honestly say, that when I left that emergency room I felt better than I had in several days.

I am still feeling better. I still have a slight wheeze, but it may take me going through the whole course of my oral steroids before that improves. Or, if things do not get better, then I might have to go back to that ER and get some more IV steroids. I am okay with either way it plays out. The care I received there was very good.

As a diabetic, steroids cause me problems. They raise my blood glucose levels extremely high. Yesterday, my morning reading was close to 500. I quickly gave myself an insulin injection, and upped my dose of long lasting insulin last night. My morning blood glucose reading was much better this morning, 169. That was before I took my dose of oral steroids, so I am sure it will go up from there, but it does appear as if I am doing a fairly decent job keeping my blood glucose levels close to normal.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to Babys R Us, with my daughter in law. It may have been too much walking too soon. I got very short of breath, and my mother picked me up so I could go back to the house and rest.  I also did some Wii Sword Fighting with my daughter. That was not the wisest decision I have ever made.

As I write this, I can feel my wheeze picking back up. I am not totally surprised. I half expected this to happen. Very often I need several days worth of IV steroids to stop an asthma flare. I will keep taking the oral steroids and if things are still like this when I finish the taper, then I will let a doctor look at me again.

Asthma really plays a huge role in my mental health. When you cannot breath properly, it makes you extremely anxious, and agitated. Not too mention, days and days of working so hard to breathe, really can bring your mood down. I work very hard during times like this to find positives, as well as things to laugh about so that my mood can stay up beat. I am not always successful, but at least I always try.

One of my favorite Asthma Sites is Breathin Stephen. If want to learn more about Asthma and how it affects a person, I suggest taking a look at his blog.