Sept. 29 - Oct. 12, 2009
This has been a long two weeks for me. On Sept. 29th I got the Swine Flu. I was sooo sick with high fever and chills until the 4th of October. I actually felt pretty good on the 4th until about bedtime when I really started wheezing. As soon as I got up Monday the 5th I went right in to the doctors. I was wheezing really bad and had a low grade fever again. Of course I couldn't see the doctor because I had no appointment so I saw the PA. He said I had Bronchitis and gave me an antibiotic. The wheezing just kept getting worse. It got to the point if I did more than sit it was really hard to breath. On Wed the 7th I called the doctors office to see if I could get in. They transferred me to the nurses voice mail. I told her the problem and asked her to call me back so I could get in to see the doctor. She never called me back. On Thursday I had to go to IF to get my monthly blood test and run a couple of errands. I felt awful and could hardly breathe. On the way home I stopped in at the doctors office again. Of course I had no appointment so had to see the PA again. He added another antibiotic and gave me an inhaler with a steroid in it that probably would of worked if I had started taking it a week earlier. So home I went to try and keep breathing. Friday morning I woke up having a terrible time. I just couldn't breathe. I tried sitting up and trying to relax to make breathing easier. It just didn't work. I grabbed the phone and called the doctors office barely able to talk and was transferred to the nurses voice mail again. I left a breathless message asking her to call me as soon as she gets in. (That was 8:12 am and I still haven't heard from her.) After hanging up it got even worse, I couldn't even talk. I asked Rick to call 911 which he did. The EMT got here in just a few minutes but seemed like a long time to me. Once he got me on some oxygen it helped some. Then the paramedics came and took me to the hospital. After about 5 hours, a couple breathing treatments and lots of tests I felt much better. I found out the combination of the bronchitis and asthma was causing all the problems. They sent me home with a rescue inhaler to help me if that should happen again plus they put me on Predisone pills to open up my airway. I felt so much better.
To make things more complicated Saturday was our little granddaughters birthday. All of her presents which included the bottom part of the bunk bed, a new mattress, and all the bedding for it was the back of my van. I was determined somehow it had to get to Utah for her party. I knew I couldn't go and Rick really didn't want to leave me to go. When we got up Saturday morning my wheezing was a little worse again. I tried the rescue inhaler and it really didn't help too much. I finally convinced Rick I would be Okay. There are lots of people I could call if I needed anything. He wasn't too happy about it but he went. I showered and tired to load the dishwasher and was having a really hard time breathing again. So I sat down and rested and it did get a little better. But I soon discovered I couldn't do anything (walk to the bathroom, go get a drink, ect.) without struggling to breath and the rescue inhaler just wasn't working. I soon realized I needed to go back to the hospital for another breathing treatment. About that same time Rick called to tell me he had gotten there okay. I told him I was going to go into the hospital for another breathing treatment. I was going to wait until 5:00 pm so I could feed Tena and eat something for dinner then I was going to go in. Well at 4:00 Ginger Durbin knocked on my door. She had been at our Relief Societies "Supper Saturday" all day (she was in charge of it) and was bringing some soup they had left over from lunch. She came in and put the soup in my fridge and said "Brenda you sound awful get your shoes on and I'll be right back and take you to the hospital". I hurried and fed Tena, put my shoes on and sat down. Our Relief Socitey President called me and said the Bishop will be there to give you a blessing before you go to the hospital. A few minutes later Ginger came back along with Christy Tomlinson (RS President), Jeff Cox (Bishop), Terry Johnshon (High Preist Group Leader) and Lance Hone. I was so grateful for the blessing and everyone's help. After 4 more hours in the ER and 3 more breathing treatments, I felt much better. They sent me home with my own nebulizer so I can do my own breathing treatments at home. I am so grateful for Ginger taking me and staying with me at the hospital. Christy for all her help in getting my the meds for the breathing machine. And most of all for the power of the priesthood and the willingness of those brotheren to come at a moments notice to bless someone in need.
Rick had dinner with the Izatt's and stayed for the birthday party and then came home. He got home about half an hour after I did. I was glad to have him here. I am doing so much better. I'm doing breathing treatments 3 times a day. I've still got stuff in my chest to cough up and am still kind of tired, but other than that doing great. I will be making an appointment with my doctor so he can follow up on how I'm doing. I've got to have a talk with him and find out what a person has to do to actually see him or at least get a nurse to call back when they really need help. I think most of this could of been avoided had I actually seen the doctor earlier in the week.
Sorry this has been so long but I just had to show you the plant again. It has gotten a lot darker pink. Not sure how much longer it will last this year because of the cold nights.
