So, yesterday was interesting. I had trouble breathing the day before and couldn't fall asleep because of it. No matter the position in which I tried to sleep, I would stop breathing as soon as I lost consciousness. Like a temporary form of sleep apnea. I was sure pneumonia was setting in, as it commonly does in covid victims. I pressed a heating pad on high to my chest, and alternatively to my back over my lungs, almost to the point of burning. That helped relax my respiratory system enough to breathe more deeply. Breathing was generally more difficult at night, so when I woke up feeling that way, I said fuck it, I'm going to the ER. But I first watered all my plants, whether they needed it or not, and also made other plant adjustments, in anticipation of a longer hospital stay. Remember, I'm a one man show, and I wanted to try my best not to lose my only source of income these days. I tossed together a couple of hospital bug-out bags with extra sweat clothes, toiletries, laptop, and all related cable and power cords. Ready for the Long Haul, this was not my first rodeo. When I called the ER of my preferred hospital (which I was encouraged to do as many are too full for new patients), I was happy to find that there were only 3 people waiting at that point. Hopped in an Uber donning an N95 mask and rubber gloves. You and I know that's so I wouldn't spread this vile thing, but the Uber driver just said, 'Man! Glad you're really taking this seriously...' When I got to the ER, I was struggling to breathe. It was as if I just couldn't take big enough breaths, but also felt like I was hyperventilating at the same time. I didn't want to fuck around with admin, so I announced loudly enough for everyone to hear that I have the virus, and you may want to send me right in and not make me wait with the people in the waiting room (all of who were wearing masks.) That did not work, and I ended up waiting for about 30 minutes, anyway. When the first nurse was admitting me, he asked me all about my symptoms, their duration, their severity, etc.. He listened to my lungs (no fluid or any abnormality), took an EKG (fine), and even took my O2 level. It was 96, which he said was athletic. How the FUCK am I having trouble breathing while my O2 level was awesome??? Let's put a pin in that.
Once I was admitted, I got into a bed and that stupid gown. My doctor was a sexy young blonde girl that was personable, but spoke with authority. I asked her why no one was wearing serious protection, and her reply made me want to cry and give her a hug - "We're wearing these things not to avoid
catching the virus, but to avoid potentially
passing it to anyone." Such a shame that they are not equipped to do both
They hooked me up to an IV, and drew blood. About an hour later they took me to get 3 chest xrays. After about another hour the doctor came in to relay that everything looked great. They had to move me to a smaller room, as two new patients were admitted with severe covid symptoms. There were a couple more tests they wanted to run for possible clots, so they took more blood (out of the other arm, as my IV line closed up). 45 minutes later, the doc said all looked great and that I could go. I asked if this was all psychosomatic, and she said not necessarily. Her hypothesis was that my body was doing a bang up job at fighting the virus, as evidenced by lack of fever and dry cough, and during the time of difficult breathing it was attacking my respiratory system, tensing up my diaphragm and what not while not harming my lungs. This is likely why I have trouble breathing without it affecting my O2 levels. So during these episodes, I basically feel that I'm slowly suffocating while I'm actually not. Yikes. She said to keep doing my thing with the heating pad and whatever else helps me to relax, and to come back if I ran into further trouble. I'll tell you, just having run the tests and getting a clean bill of health (besides being a victim of the virus) goes a LONG way to help me relax. I just keep repeating to myself during the episodes of labored breathing, "It's okay. You are not dying, you just feel like you are..." Small comfort? I'll take what I can get.
Now some things I heard from the nurses -
Illinois is about to get hit way worse than NYC. All of the beds in their ICU were full, and this is just getting started. In 2 weeks, they predict that they will be making similar difficult decisions that they are making in Italy.
I also heard from them that on April 1st, our mayor would be closing the liquor stores. The reason is that law enforcement has been shutting down large private parties where everyone is just hammered, and she thinks having no access to liquor may fix this. We'll see if they are correct about that, I haven't heard that anywhere else.
Today was better breathing-wise and fatigue-wise. It seems that I'm over the hump and have seen the worst of this, but who the fuck knows. I am fortunate that I went through so early in our State's crisis, if this happened even a week later I could have been in real trouble. Stay safe, and don't be upset that you are trapped in your homes, be grateful for it. It sure as hell beats the alternative...
