A Rough Couple Of Days

It's been a tough couple of days, what with hospital visits, wheelchair crashes, life-impacting decisions, and lots of crying. I don't really know where to begin, so I will begin at the beginning, yesterday morning.

I awoke yesterday with a fat lip and a swollen throat. That might seem unimportant normally however in light of the allergic reactions I have had lately, it was just the thing I had been warned about by EMT's and doctors. I was told if this happened, I should go immediately to ER. For me that means a call to EMS right away.

They EMS team arrived, quickly assessing me, quickly agreeing that  I needed to go to ER. They soon discovered their new, gas lift, larger stretcher did not fit into my building's elevator. After much discussion, it was decided Shelby would put me in the van and drive me to ER instead of me taking an ambulance trip.

Off we went, the two of us in the van, to the ER at Foothills Hospital. I had taken a couple of benadryl to calm what we all though was a continuing allergic reaction to the MacroBid I had taken a few weeks back. After checking in at the ER we went through the typical wait time for triage. Triage must not have thought much about my situation as our wait time was close to five hours. After waiting with me for four hours, Shelby and decided she should go home. After she left, I slept for another hour, at which time I was ushered into a private ER room, one with a sling and lift.

I spent a couple of hours there, waiting for the results of various tests. Then, with no warning, two HCA's showed up to put me into a sling and onto the hospital bed. I had stayed in my chair until then. I asked why, to which the professed no knowledge whatsoever. I said "no". So they called the nurse. She explained that the doctor wanted me in the hospital for an undetermined period of time. I said "no",

Finally the doctor showed up. He dropped the bombshell. I have angioedema, an inexplicable swelling under the skin which generally shows up around the lips and in the throat. That's the really dangerous part, swelling in the throat. It can happen in just a few minutes, choking off my airway completely, causing death through respiratory arrest. I would, or rather could, die at home before anyone could get me to the hospital.

He also told me the only response to this life threatening situation was intubation, putting a tube down my throat until the danger of swelling passed. If things went really badly, I could die. So I had a choice. Stay in hospital and get intubated, or go home and risk dying if things got bad in a hurry. I chose to go home. If I am going to die, I would prefer to do so in my own bed.

The immediate decision made, I chose to roll home rather than call Shelby for a ride. I needed time to think about my decision. I don't really want to die, especially from something with such a simple treatment. On the other hand, I really don't want to die in hospital. There is a treatment through Benadryl, Prednisone, and Zantac which could work well. The end target is four days. If the at home treatment does not significantly reduce my symptoms within four days, I will go back into hospital for intensive treatment. If my throat swelling gets worse, I will go back into hospital for intense treatment. Otherwise, I will stay at home and hope the drugs work.

Then, one the roll home, I fell over backwards in my power wheelchair while attempting to make a curb. My head was protected by my headrest. The rest of my body was protected by the wheelchair. Fortunately there were several people around who got me back upright. Unfortunately it looks like I bent the frame on my PWC. I've called my ALS Case Worker at the ALS Society. He will come over today to inspect it. I asked him to bring a replacement; my chair will have to go into the shop to get bent back into shape.

As I said, it's been a rough couple of days.