Asthma is no joke. I
left work early on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 because I felt positively
awful. Some people work to live. Some people live to work. Right or
wrong, I fall in the second category. I don't leave work early. I headed
home, took a hot shower, changed into sweats, and drank some hot tea.
Ordinarily, a little hot water and a little hot tea cures what ails me. Not this time. I emailed my friend Cathy from church – asking
her if she'd like to join me on a field trip to Littleton Adventist Hospital's ER.
Littleton Adventist is a great hospital – smart, caring staff, great food and
landscaping and the best place to have a baby or hysterectomy – but
the ER is sometimes a bit slow - so I changed my mind and asked Cathy
to take me to Swedish Medical Center's Southwest ER near
Clement Park, instead. They administered oxygen, started an IV, gave me a
breathing treatment, took a chest xray, and placed me in an ambulance
that took me to the main hospital in Englewood. The whole process – from
the time I arrived at the Southwest ER until the time I was tucked into a bed on the seventh floor with a great view of the helicopter pad – took around two hours.
While
I have become increasingly allergic to my sweet kitties and many soaps
and cleaning products and have an Albuterol inhaler for when I get
wheezy, I'd not been diagnosed with asthma or been treated for it. Until
now – that is. For seven days – I was discharged on November 3, 2016 – I
received respiratory therapy treatments round-the-clock and ordered
meals that I did not cook from room service. The breakfast burritos with
vegetarian green chili and the Mediterranean Sandwich (Feta, fresh
vegetables, and hummus on Naan) were particularly good. I received
excellent care from the staff at Swedish – especially the respiratory
therapists – and had some great conversations with people.
And I watched
my Cubbies on big-screen TV. On a
more practical note, it's possible to respect the expertise and time
constraints of healthcare professionals and be proactive about the care
you receive. Even when you don't feel so great. What else? I've been home several days, feel great, and plan on going back to work on Monday.
While the pulmonologist who directed my care at Swedish doesn't
advocate sleeping with cats, he will provide me with the medication I
need to continue to live with them. The way I look at it – I can keep my
cats, sleep through the night, and take asthma/allergy meds or take
more Lexapro. I vote for the cats.
