...The Flu [Update]

If you remember in my last post I said something about if we weren't careful I would get pneumonia. Well guess what? I got pneumonia! Mom decided that since my cough was only getting worse that I needed to go back to the doctor. Well I went, they listened to my lungs again, and came to the conclusion that I needed to have a chest X-ray to decide if it was pneumonia or not. So after we left the doctor we went to the local hospital and I got the X-ray. But before leaving the doctor's office, the doctor told us that we needed to come back on Thursday afternoon so we could go over the results of the X-ray. So we went home after the X-ray. I woke up Thursday feeling great! Well, kinda! I was feeling a little bit better than the day before which wouldn't take much! So I decided that I wanted to go back to school on Friday. I talked to my mom and convinced her that it would be academically the best thing to do. She said that if Dr. Khattab said that I could go back then I could. Well we go to the doctor's office and wait about 1.5 hours and then go back to the waiting room and sit and wait about 10 more minutes. The doctor comes in and is reminded that I'm there to review and X-ray and he goes to check the results. He then comes back and listens to my lungs, asks how the cough is and then says, "The reason you are having such a terrible time coughing is because you have pneumonia!" I wanted to cry after this statement because I knew what that meant! Hospitalization. He proceeds to tell me that since I had the flu, it had weakened my body which allowed for bacteria to get in my lungs and set up an infection. He then asked me if I would go to the hospital for 2 days. I said yes, and he told me that if I didn't go to the hospital I would be sick for at least 12 days. He also told me that I was the first reported person to have the flu and get pneumonia in the county! Go me! That's what I do best! I'm always the odd ball out, in statistics I think they call those things outliers! Well, after my doctor set up my stay at prison, I mean, the hospital! My mom and I left, went home and packed my bags!

We arrived at the hospital at 5:40 and I got in my room at 8:30! That was a long wait in the ER waiting room. I was placed in droplet precautions, which means that any person that would be within 3 feet of me would have to wear a mask.[actually this is the color of the sign that was on my door. But I didn't find that out till I left because I wasn't allowed to leave my room!] I just learned about that in my nursing class. I was there for about 40 hours give or take a few. I went through 4 bags of IV fluids and 4 or 5 bags of antibiotics. I was able to come home, however, I am still taking antibiotics by mouth and an inhaler. I'm really glad to be home even though I'm really tired. Although one thing I have learned after 2 stays in the hospital, you don't get much rest; between the beds and the health care team coming in rest is impossible! Although after night one my doctor asked me how I slept and I said not very good. He asked why and I said because people kept coming in. He told me that he would put a note in my chart saying not to wake me up if I'm sleeping! Oh that was great! I was actually able to sleep last night! No midnight breathing treatments. No midnight vital sign check. It was lovely. Although I did have one interruption around 5 this morning, my IV machine started beeping and that was really annoying. I had to call the nurse and ask her to come make it stop. I was really happy to sleep all night! It wasn't my bed and it was really small but staying asleep all night is something I'm really grateful for! I'm also really happy to get that IV out of my hand! Today just before I left one of my respiratory therapist stepped on my IV tube and it pulled on my hand, OUCH!!! Hospital food here isn't that great! My friends called me and talked to me! I was really happy about that because I didn't have alot of visitors. Actually only 2 and they were there to give me a blessing. Nobody really wanted to come to my room because I was in droplet precautions and all of my friends were either sick with the flu or just getting over the flu!

I think my most favorite thing about being out is that I was able to see the outside and go to it! It does really exist. It's not just a figment of my imagination, it's not just a folk tale they talk about, or a moving picture on my wall! I'm really happy to be home! I can't wait to sleep all night in my own bed!!

Goodnight and salud to everyone!

[Salud means good health!!]