I've been very naughty and I'm now paying the price.
It's become apparent that some time ago I contracted a bug called "Nocardia".
It's a fairly uncommon bacteria that attacks mainly people with weakened immune systems and patients who have had stem cell transplants. That would be me. Hutt hospital see's around one case of it a year so it's fairly rare.
I ignored the warning signs and assumed that my decreasing health was probably asthma or my BOOP lung disease.
I started running a high grade fever early last week and took paracetamol to break it.
I thought I'd struggle on for a few days as I really wanted to help out at Rally Wairararapa sweeping.
It's a job Sarah I have done for six years now and we thoroughly enjoy it, I didn't want to miss out.
I promised myself (and Sarah) that I would check in with the hospital as soon as we got back.
Unfortunately over the weekend my health plummeted and I found that I was unable to walk more than a few metres without becoming puffed and my heart racing. At night I ran a high fever and soaked the bed in sweat.
However once dosed up on panadol and neurofen I was still physically able to drive the 4WD sweeper vehicle without any problems. In fact some of our stage times were close to that of the slower
tail end cars.
One reassuring aspect was the fact that our role as sweeper required that we had a paramedic with us at all times. He even offered me oxygen should I need it... (The fact that I was so breathless that a fully trained paramdeic was offering me oxygen should have been a big clue I needed attention.)
Once back in Lower Hutt I arranged to see my GP, knowing full well that I needed to be admitted to hospital urgently. Doing it through my GP fast-tracked the process of getting through the emergency department.
Once under the care of the doctors my body just collapsed, I broke into a massive fever and was wracked with chills and rigor. I developed a pain in my chest that was 9 on the pain scale. When I coughed it felt like all my ribs were broken. I almost passed out with each choking cough.
They pumped me full of morphine but that didn't seem to help, it just made me sleepy but still in massive chest pain.
An Xray showed that I have pneumonia and a pneumo thorax, meaning the lung had detached from the chest wall and the cavity behind was full of air and liquid.
That night they inserted a tube into my chest to drain the fluid and air. The tube attaches to a plastic box that collects the fluid and also shows the movement of the air and quantity of fluid collected.
There's a section on the screen that swings up and down with my breathing and shows that the tube is clear and flowing.
On another is a section where the air can bubble through a coloured liquid to show that draining of air from the chest cavity is occurring. The medical staff call this "Bubble and swing"
I was also given three units of whole blood due to my anemia. 135 or below is considered anemic, my reading was 66 upon admission. My health steadily declined that night to the point I was unable to breath without oxygen, talk or even move unaided. It's the closest I've been to dying. Certainly the sickest I've ever been!
I woke the next morning to a fuzzy world of pain and incredible weakness. My chest tube had blocked and was no longer draining anything. Certainly no bubble or swing.
I was taken down to a theatre to have a new tube inserted using ultrasound to get it positioned perfectly.
That failed and so I was taken immediately to the have a CT scan and markers were placed on my chest so they could guide a wire to the correct position of the pneumo thorax cavity. It worked beautifully and we had bubble and swing as soon as they plugged the large silicone hose into the fitting under my left armpit.
The next day was a blur, too weak to push myself up in bed. Too weak to talk on occasion and had Sarah not spoon fed me the little food I could manage to eat, I'd have gone without. Too weak to even hold the spoon up to my mouth.
It's now saturday afternoon and I still have the drain in my chest, it will be in another day or two.
Today was the first time I am able to stand up un-aided, even if it was only to swing from my bed to a guerney so that I could be taken to have yet another Xray. I've had six xrays since tuesday and one CAT scan.
My strength is slowly coming back, I can just manage to push myself up in bed. However my breathing is still in a terrible state and if I cough I become puffed from the effort and the whole thing snow-balls.. hence the need to be on oxygen 24/7.
I've had a constant stream of well-wishers drop by and visit me (Medical ward 5, room 8, Hutt Hospital) which has been great. Looks like I'll be here for a while longer, I'll post a few updates as I find the energy to write more (This has taken three days to write)
Thanks for everyones well wishes and messages of support.!
...Ron
