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donmol

Joined: 11/04/2011

My Story:

I was first diagnised with asthma at 18 y/o. I had a severe URI and went to several doctors appts complaining og cough and shortnes of breath. My doctor that I was seeing at the time said it was a virus and I would be fine. One night I got so bad I went to the local emergency room straight from work and was admitted with a a diagnosis of status astmaticus. After two days in ICU I was placed on a ventilator and life flighted to another hospital that had what I needed to get better. Since then I have had numerous hospitalizations and have been intubated 3 more times. I have been on numerous medication and prednisone. My Pulmonologist I have now has tried the Xolair but with a severe allergic reaction that was stopped. I have multiple allergies. It has been a struggle. The best I felt was when I was pregnant for my two daughters.Hormones? Maybe. I have talked with my doctor about the bronchial thermoplasty but I was told my asthma is to sever and persistant to go through the procedure. I am in fear that one of these attacks will eventually get me I will not see my girls graduate or get married. I pray to the Lord everyday to let me healthy. The power of prayer has helped me through a lot in the last 18 years. I am a registered nurse so I have seen a lot and learned a lot about this disease and know to keep exercising and eat healthy and take your medication faithfully even symptom free what ever that is.

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Cushing Syndrome and Prednisone any advise

I had an appointment with my pulmonologist today and when she reviewed my lab work and all I...

donmol

Posted by donmol

1 Reply | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Cushing Syndrome and Prednisone any advise I had an appointment with my pulmonologist today and when she reviewed my lab work and all I...

Just getting home

Another update. I went for a doctors appointment on 2/6/2012 and ended up getting admitted...

donmol

Posted by donmol

1 Reply | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Just getting home Another update. I went for a doctors appointment on 2/6/2012 and ended up getting admitted...

Another Cold Another Admission

As I approached the ER department I was asked "Can I help you?" Trying to tell the intake...

donmol

Posted by donmol

As I approached the ER department I was asked "Can I help you?" Trying to tell the intake personnel I need to see a doctor I have asthma. She said "I have a patient for triage." On the radio. A nurse came out and asked me why I was their and I told her I have asthma ans I was really short of breath. She put the SP02 on my finger and said "98%. Lets have a seat and I am going to take the rest of your vitals signs before bringing you back to the emergency department." I at that time was really wheezing and coughing bad. I was having a hard time to talk, I walked past her and went to the nurses station as I do work in the emergency department as a nurse on a per diem basis. I could not believe how she was treating me. She was new to the department and did not know me or how bad of an asthmatic I was.

Immediately RT was called for neb treatment and ABG's were drawn. Chest x-ray was done of course that was normal but the ABG were off on room air
PH 7.49
pC0241
p02 54
Bicarb 30.9
TC02 32.2

When RT came back with the results and hande them to the Doctor in the ER that afternoon it did not take long for him to come in the room and tell me that I was going to be staying for a few days.

At that time I was both relieved that I was going to get treatment finally and I wanted to tell the intake nurse just because an Sp02 stat is high does not mean a person is not in trouble. You need to assess the whole situation not just a number.

I feel we as asthmatics get have to take a lot of heat sometimes in the ER because we need to use them more often and at first if we walk in they think we are not that bad and can wait in reality we are running on adrenaline most of the time.

This little incident cost me 7 days in ICU and 6 days on Med/Surge. I hope this it for a long time. I feel weak and it is going to take a long time to bounce back from this one.

Although I did get a treatment I have never heard of before "Heliox" There is nothing funnier than talking to the ICU nurses and RT's and Doc's in a Mickey Mouse voice.

My biggest lesson to anyone about this whole discussion is be persistant when going to the ER if you are in trouble and they say your 02 level 98% you can wait and you know you can't DON'T!!!View Thread

donmol

Posted bydonmol

3 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Another Cold Another Admission As I approached the ER department I was asked "Can I help you?" Trying to tell the intake...

Cold air and Asthma

Well since the winter has decided to come to the Northeast Kingdom here comes the asthma...

donmol

Posted by donmol

1 Reply | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Cold air and Asthma Well since the winter has decided to come to the Northeast Kingdom here comes the asthma...

Common cold and Asthma

It seems every time I get a common cold my asthma gets so severe I end up in the hospital...

Posted by donmol

3 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Common cold and Asthma It seems every time I get a common cold my asthma gets so severe I end up in the hospital...

Reply: Common cold and Asthma

I was first diagnosed at the age of 18. I started out with a bad cold that went into an...

Posted by donmol

3 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Common cold and Asthma I was first diagnosed at the age of 18. I started out with a bad cold that went into an...

Reply: Can one have a asthma attack if oxygen levels are ...

I have had this happen to me on several occasions. The last last time in March of 2011 I had...

Posted by donmol

4 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Can one have a asthma attack if oxygen levels are normal? I have had this happen to me on several occasions. The last last time in March of 2011 I had...

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