As some of you may recall, last summer I experienced what I would describe as otherwise some rather painful two weeks of being in the hospital for a collapsed right lung in the July of 2007. Unfortunately, the directors like to write sequels to their screenplays, and what the result has been what has happened this week in July 2008.
Tuesday, 5PM
After having taken my brother to the train station and driving back to my house, I decided to go up to my room and take a nap on the bed. After waking up and finding out that it was supper time, I went down towards the basement, except to to find that there was this strange feeling on the left side of my chest. Since my last collapsed lung, I have been paranoid about even the littlest things that I feel in my chest, and this time the pain was a lot more intense than anything I have experienced prior to the original experienced, so I was pretty scared. My parents decided to take me into the emergency room, and after taking an X-Ray, they had confirmed that my left lung had collapsed this time now. It was not as severe as the first time, but they would once again need to do surgery on it to correct it. They put me on for surgery the following morning at 9am, and they placed a chest tube in my side that night.
For those who don't know what happened last year, I had a spontaneously collapsed lung, called a Spontaneous pneumothorax. It is something that can happen to (mostly guys) who are very tall and skinny. (My brother also had this happen to him, as well as a few other members at GW I believe, although I am not sure all who)
Wednesday - 6AM
I had been given some pain killers previously for my chest tube, I began to vomit rather violently in the morning a few hours before surgery. This didn 't help because that isn't fun for anyone, and I also vomited up the painkillers, and wouldn't able to take any before the surgery. I managed to make it through a few hours, and was put out for surgery. A few hours later, the surgery was completed and I was informed that it had went well and that I was expected to get out of the hospital by Saturday.
Thursday
So far, things had been good. The Xray that they had taken in the morning showed that my lung was looking as expected by the surgeons, and things we on course. My eye had started to become irritated however, and one of the nurses tried to give me Nubain to see it was just an allergy or something. Unfortunately this was not a good idea, as I sort of had an allergic reaction to this medicine. It felt like I was on fire, and it was rather hard to breath. The feeling resided eventually, but it was rather very painful.
Friday
This day was uneventful and I don't remember anything special about it other than sitting in bed and watching Steve Carell movies.
Saturday
They clamped the chest tube to simulate the chest tube not being there, and x-rayed my chest. Unfortunately, progress was not as expected, and I was told that I would need to wait another few days in the hospital
Sunday - Rather uneventful, was told that I would be getting out possibly Monday or Tuesday though, so I had that to look forward to.
Monday - Probably one of the most painful days of my life. The thing you have to understand about painkillers is that strong ones can sort of constipate you, so at this point I was beginning to get constipated. I had not much appetite all week, and despite having eaten a lot of grapes, I ended up needing to get a suppository. That was rather unpleasant. After that though, I was able to go, but a few minutes I later I become extremely sick in my stomach and was vomitting for a few minutes straight. My mouth tasted awful, and I could feel the irritation from the acids in my throat. That night was probably the worst night out of the entire thing.
Tuesday - I was told that although I wouldn't be able to get out today, that they were going to send me home tomorrow (pending a good x-ray in the morning) with a valve attacted to my chest tube that would allow me to get off of the atrium machine that I had been attached to this whole time.
So anyways, I was discharged early Wendesday morning (today) with this valve thing sticking out of my chest. I will hopefully be able to get it out by next tuesday pending a good x-ray when I go back into the hospital.
So that is sort of where I have been the last week. Feel free to share your hospital experiences and stuff
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