Heavy Breather

Last night something very frightening happened to me.

I went to bed about midnight after a rousing round of Wii games with Uncle Joe. I was bright eyed and bushy tailed due to the Albuterol Inhaler I have been huffing. I settled down into bed and finally went to sleep only to be awakened by myself gasping for air at 2am.

I can usually shake it pretty easily by sitting up and sipping a bit of water and breathing really slow. Not this time. I walked into the living room....well stumbled is more like it. I know I must have had a terrified look on my face when I looked at Joe. I needed my inhaler and didn't see my purse.

I tried to stay calm but didn't do a very good job. I got the inhaler and took a couple of puffs. After a few minutes of it calming a bit but not going away, Joe made an executive decision and called Mom to come and sit with the girls while he took me to the ER. Mom had a better idea: go to the EMS station a mile away and let them check me out. (I was all for that since going to ER would mean the rest of the night over there and really no guarantee they could even do anything.)

We arrived to a dark station and knocked on the door. My friend, Mike was the Paramedic on duty. That was a good thing. :o) They hooked me up to a pulse ox monitor and it was fine. EKG fine. I knew I had a good heart. haha.. I was able to tell them everything that happened but got short of breath just speaking, so they gave me an Albuterol breathing treatment, which helped open my airway up and I was able to breathe again. Thank God. Aside from a bit of diminished lung sounds on one side I was fine and avoided going to the ER and saving myself a boat load of money. This is one of the GREAT things about living in a small town. :o)

When I got to work I checked with the Physicians Assistant that treated me and told him what happened. We looked at an updated xray and he decided to change my antibiotics. I think I feel a bit better already. I did go and invest in a humidifier that will sit on my bedside tonight. ( I just sold our other one in the garage sale since we hadn't used it in years! Bonus: I found on on clearance at Walgreens!! cha-ching!)

Right now I am sitting outside breathing the nice moist night air and it feels good. I haven't coughed much tonight. I don't want to wake up like that ever again. I am pretty sure that is the scaredest I have ever been.

Thank you Lord for looking out for me, providing me with Joe to take care of me and for the EMS guys who were available to help out a heavy breather. :o)