Holidays in the hospital.

I turned 25 in the first week of December! My gosh! I am officially a whole quarter. I was sick on my birthday so I celebrated at home with my family. I sought a second opinion at LomaLinda University Hospital with the chief pulmonolgist. I did the CT scan, Heart tests and the detailed lung tests. Hopefully I can get a regimen going that I'll better my breathing.

On the morning of December 18th, I coughed up phlegm. I photographed the yellow, wet ball and knew I was on the defense. I bought a lot of orange juice, Lysol, Kleenex, OTC medications and antioxidant teas. I wasn't getting better, so I walked into the Urgent Care Center on December 22nd and was told I had the flu and an ear infection. I was prescribed Amoxicillin and Zyrtec. I was getting worse and I didn't want to be the reason my family didn't spend Christmas together so I planned to enter the E.R. on December 26th. Well, I didn't make it.

On Christmas Eve I went to the E.R. because my breathing was heavily congested, I could not bring up anything from my lungs and my oxygen saturation was low. I felt horrible ruining Christmas Eve but I don't have $7K for a casket, so I went.

I was admitted for "COPD ASTHMATIC FLARE UP"and the doctor said I tested negative for the flu and that my body was losing the fight against whatever invader was inside of me - I was producing enough mucus for two people.

"The Plan" was to give me high doses of Solu medrol three times a day, with PRNS of every six hours, and my daily medications. I was on 4.0 Liters of oxygen and coughing like a madwoman. I was coughing as hard and as loud as I could to try and get a sputum culture. When I did, I almost fainted. Turned out I had no pneumonia or bronchitis, so at least it wasn't life threatening.

I spent most of Christmas Day looking at the other patients with their family members. My parents would see me in the late evening though. I felt angry at myself for having ruined Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So I decided to talk to my neighbor, Lenoir. She was an 89 year old woman who knew Frank Sinatra and other classic celebrities. My gosh, she was gorgeous. She had natural platinum blonde hair, ocean blue eyes, soft skin and sky rise cheek bones. She wore her hair back in a low style bun, red lipstick and polished nails. She is close to death, but my gosh she is a beautiful woman. I let her be when her daughter arrived. She was gorgeous too. She reminded me of Kate Winslet.

My parents arrived in the evening. We talked and laughed. We took a photo! and they left.

I was in the hospital for eight days. I was slightly more depressed in this stay, I rarely had family visit, but I enjoyed the conversation with the hospital staff. I was told to stay in my room due to positive influenza patients (I normally walk all over the place) I saw these movies 3 times each (cable): The Wedding Planner, Maid In Manhattan, He's Just Not That Into You, Hitch. I didn't see a doctor for 2 days, housekeeping wasn't thoroughly cleaning my room or bathroom, so I filed a complaint with the Unit Director.

On December 31st at 5 PM was discharged! I fell asleep around 11:45 PM with the New York ball dropping on t.v..

The month of December was hard. The influenza outbreak, the cold weather, the holidays in the hospital. I hope that I don't get sick as often anymore, like ever. I recently downloaded the Amazon App and I've a medical wish list of all the new gadgets other for better breathing.

I am currently in bed rest because I bruised my left lung from coughing. In time, I'll heal.