Just Breathe

I decided that since so many of my friends have spent time in the hospital lately, it would be cool to have a turn. Of course everyone loves the super cool hospital gowns... including yours truly. So I picked the most opportune time I could think of (1:30AM) to start having trouble breathing. Really smart of me, right? One problem, most people are asleep at that hour. I thought it would be rude to call for help... and tried to hang on as long as I could... which turned out to be more like 5AM. Now was the time to strike!!

Emile got up and called my sister, Cindy, who came immediately and took me to the ER. After a few theories (including a pulmonary embolism, heart attack, and/or congestive heart failure), the diagnosis is Interstitial Pneumonitis. Simply put it means there is an inflammation of the lung tissue. It is not asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia or that type of respiratory condition. It is a condition/sickness of the lung tissue itself.

Quick wrap up.... the chest X-ray on Monday was much better than the Sat baseline one. There was the possibility of having to have a lung biopsy, but that is on hold now since I'm responding to meds instead. I'm grateful for that. We'll see what the next couple of days/weeks brings. After 3 days in the hospital, I'm home and breathing better... although still very tired. I've had lots of help from friends and family. What would I do without everyone??? If anything changes, I'll post more later. For now, all is well.