More Hospital Fun (Part 2)

As I enter the entrance to the emergency department (ED), I try to reassure myself this is a good idea. I have been progressively becoming more and more short of breath and have been coughing. I know the bacteria in my lungs is making me mildly sick. My chest x-ray will be normal. My white blood cell count will be normal. The bacteria is getting ready to throw a party, but right now, it is just in the planning mode. The invitations are being sent out across my lungs to a future event, but at the moment, nothing exciting is happening.

I am taken back to a room in the ED. My pulmonologist's office called over to the ED to inform them I was coming. I relay the information to the ED doctor. I am surprised my pulmonologist sends over the sputum culture results which indicate I have a bacterial infection in my respiratory tract. Even when my chest x-ray and total white blood cell count come back normal (although the differential white blood cell counts shows a white blood cell shift common with a bacterial infection), I am given IV antibiotics. This never happens. If my total white blood cell count is not elevated, I am always told I am not sick and am sent home. But today, everything is different.

After receiving IV fluids and antibiotics, I begin to feel a little bit better. Four and a half hours later, my primary care team evaluates me in the ED. The doctor agrees with the pulmonologist to admit me to the hospital, place a PICC line and start me on IV antibiotics. I am grateful something is going to be done to get rid of the bacteria in my lungs, but I am also feeling very unworthy. This is how I always dreamed my respiratory infections would be handled. My pulmonologist would make suggestions, and they would be followed through at the hospital. However, this has rarely, if ever, happened. Whenever I come to the hospital, everything goes awry. Doctors unfamiliar with my medical case make decisions contrary to my medical team. The infection is not treated. I am sent home sicker than when I arrived. I am soon back in the ED with a severe infection including sepsis.

The rest of my hospitalization is rather uneventful. I have a PICC line placed. Home IV antibiotics are ordered. Despite all my blood work and imaging being normal, the bacteria growing in my sputum culture is taken very seriously.

As I leave the hospital, I shake my head. I wonder what I did to deserve such amazing care. What did I do to finally receive early intervention for a respiratory infection? And all this happened at a local hospital. All this happened without having to drive nearly 400 miles for medical care.

I am overwhelmed with joy and gladness. I thank God for this one reprieve. To receive great care without having to fight for it is enough to bring me to tears. It has been a rough year. I thank God over and over again for His abundant kindnesses.

 

 For the link to Part One, click here