How i Finished in Hospital with Pneumonia

It’s crazy exactly how your world can be shaken up in the blink of an eye. One day, it appears you’re perfectly healthy, going about your daily routine, and then the next day you’re lying in a hospital bed with the incessant noise of machines beeping around you. This is precisely how I spent my last weekend of summer before school started, all cooped up in a hospital bed, constantly being interrupted by a respiratory therapist and nurses checking oxygen levels, blood pressure, and temperature, while also being tethered to IV fluids and antibiotics.

Just days before being admitted to the hospital, I was out running six miles every day. I had worked all summer ever since the state track meet was over to prepare myself for a successful cross country season.

I began my summer training the day after the state track was over to prepare myself for an AAU track meet in Eldorado the following Saturday. I was entered to compete in the 400, 800, and 1500-meter races. So, I set myself to work, putting in the miles and speed workouts that would condition my body for the races. When the Saturday of the meet arrived, my mother and I hit the road at four o’clock in the morning and headed to Eldorado. When we reached the meet, we checked in and got the schedule of events. We had a long day ahead of us, which culminated in qualifying times for all three events for the Missouri Valley Championships in Joplin, Missouri. I sadly was unable to attend the championships in Joplin due to time constraints and expense.

I continued to run every day and began to exercise in the weight room. After weights, I would go home and sleep for two to three hours, and then go mow lawns in the evening. Mid-way through June, my running routines changed, and it became difficult for me to motivate myself to rise in the morning and put in the miles I needed to be a successful runner. Since I hadn’t been feeling well and had been sleeping a lot, I saw my doctor at the beginning of July and was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, a condition where your body is destroying your thyroid gland. The doctor decided to have me start thyroid medication in mid-July, after I returned from a KU cross country camp.

At the cross country camp, we stayed in the university dormitories and ran three times a day. The KU trainers would take us down to the track or out to the KU Edge Rock Farms cross country training course to run. One of the days when we went out to Edge Rock Farms, the coach had us sit in the grass and ask questions that we wanted to know about running in college. While we were all asking questions, there were ticks and spiders climbing all over us from running through the tall grass. Following the KU cross country camp, I began taking two different thyroid medications to help replace my T4 and T3 thyroid.

After I began my thyroid medicine, I continued my running. In early August, my family and I went on a trip to Kansas City. We stayed in a motel and visited the Starlight Cinema and the World War Museum. At the museum, I became unusually anxious and irritable. The following weekend, I ran a 5K in Victoria, Kansas. Throughout the race, my legs felt heavy and my breathing was hard to control. The following Tuesday, I went on a short 3-mile run. What should have been a breeze was incredibly challenging. I found myself gasping for air and needing to walk every other block. Despite the hundred-degree weather that day, I had to bundle up in sweats because I was chilly and just could not get warm. My hands and feet were ice-cold, yet at the same time, I was sweating. That night, I started experiencing night sweats and woke up with my pillow and blankets drenched in sweat. I was also urinating throughout the night, every hour.

The next day, Wednesday, my mother scheduled an appointment for me at a clinic to see a nurse practitioner in the afternoon. During that appointment, the nurse practitioner ordered for my blood to be drawn and for me as an outpatient to receive 1500 mL, plus an additional 500 mL, of IV fluids. Though the IV fluids made my hands and ankles swell, I felt better once I received them. That same evening, I started taking Omnicef, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, and still experienced high fevers, night sweats, and frequent urination.

By Thursday, I started to develop an awful crackling noise when I tried to breathe and coughed up slimy, reddish-brown, worm-like mucus from my lungs. This mucus later turned from tan to green, then back to tan with blood in it. Alarmed by these changes, my mother reached out to the clinic, which instructed me to continue taking Advil and acetaminophen in addition to the antibiotic. They also requested a follow-up with a different nurse practitioner on Friday. While the Advil and acetaminophen made me feel better temporarily, once they wore off, I felt terrible again. During Thursday night, my condition worsened, as I spiked a fever of 103 degrees in just a matter of minutes. My mother applied ice packs and had me take warm showers to bring the fever down.

After numerous telephone calls Friday early morning, I had the ability to get in and see the nurse practitioner. They instantly sent me to the radiology department of the hospital to do chest x-rays. The radiologist that took my x-rays had actually ended up refining the movies when she then came out of the x-ray area and approached my mom and also I where we were waiting. The radiologist had a very worried look on her face and she asked me if I was feeling all right. I responded “I’m a little under the whether as well as having some problem breathing.” The radiologist led my mother and I back to the clinic side of the hospital so I could then have a physician read my chest x-ray. When the nurse practitioner finally saw us he brought with him Dr. Hineman. When Dr. Hineman walked into the space she seemed extremely significant as well as said that I had pneumonia. She took us back into her workplace and raised the image of my chest x-rays on the computer. She defined my x-rays as “extremely excellent” because where we need to have been able to see my heart we could not as a result of the fluids in my lungs.

Dr. Hineman informed me that they were mosting likely to admit me to the medical facility as well as maintain me over night, and after that if all went well I would certainly reach go residence the next day. I felt my hopes fall understanding I ‘d being cooped up in the medical facility during the last weekend break of summer season. I wished to be out running, associating my friends at the swimming pool, or doing anything that didn’t require me to lay in a bed all the time. I was caused the client outcome solutions where they placed a white health center wristband with my name on it around my wrist, and then was led down to the nurse’s station to get checked into my hospital room. When I was situated in my space the nurses had me divulge the mucous from my lungs so they might do a culture on it in the lab.

Following one of my registered nurses was available in to begin an IV on me so I might obtain the prescription antibiotics Rocefin as well as Zithromax together with fluids. She had a tough time searching for an excellent capillary to begin the IV since I was dehydrated. The registered nurse stuck the IV into my lower arm two times yet was unsuccessful so she contacted the head nurse to start the IV. The head registered nurse had the ability to begin an IV in the layer of my left arm, which disabled me from bending my elbow joint.

I seemed succeeding that Friday afternoon as well as right into the night as well as a respiratory system specialist had begun coming in to offer me therapies. It wasn’t until later in the evening when I started to tremble and also ended up being really cold. The registered nurse was available in as well as took my temperature, which checked out regular, and my mom asked if we could get me some ibuprofen yet the nurse intended to see if I can survive the evening without any. Then practically right away after the nurse left as I lay there attempting to go to sleep the cools quit and I started to really feel very warm, so warm that I needed to begin the covers. It had actually only been three minutes since my registered nurse had examined me but I recognized I had actually surged a fever so we hit the call button for the nurse.

The registered nurse took my temperature once again and also saw that I was running a fever of 103.8 levels, the CNA and also the registered nurse went to get ibuprofen and also ice bag to place on my body to reduce my temperature level along with a call to Dr. Cupp that resulted in blood societies being attracted again to attempt to capture what might be creating the fever during the spike. After a bit my temperature level came down to typical so the registered nurses left me to sleep until midnight when Dr. Cupp who was on telephone call, was available in. Dr. Cupp, my mommy, as well as I reviewed my signs and Dr. Cupp stated that he would maintain me one more twenty-four hrs up until I did I was high temperature totally free.

On Saturday, the respiratory system specialist came in to give me percussion and nebulizer breathing treatments 4 times a day. The respiratory specialist had me making use of an Albuterol nebulizer that assisted open the airways in my lungs, and after that the specialist would use a really strong device that vibrated on my back. This was used to assist separate the mucous in my lungs. I was enabled to get up and start walking the hospital to attempt and help develop my endurance. I became winded very quickly as well as the Albuterol used in my nebulizer was triggering me to have adrenaline kind reaction as well as light hallucinations. Dr. Cupp bought that I switched from Albuterol to Levalbuterol, a medication that had not been rather as strong.

Along came Sunday early morning and also I had been high temperature complimentary for twenty-four hours as well as had high hopes that I would be going home. After a brief go to from Dr. Cupp, he released me with a nebulizer and prescriptions for Levalbuterol, Albuterol rescue inhaler, as well as 7 days of Zithromax, in addition to continuing the antibiotic Omnicef, which I had actually started before be confessed to the health center.

My total gas mileage for the summer season was 281 miles. All my effort instantly disappeared, and I found myself needing to be patient and accept that my physical recovery would take time. It took me three days to rejoin the cross-country team in practice. Initially, I was only permitted to ride my bike while the team ran. Even when I was allowed to run, I found myself unable to keep up with the team or complete the entire workout. However, as the season progressed, I was able to build up my strength, compete at a competitive level, and run just as much, if not better, than before I fell ill.

I am unsure of how I contracted pneumonia. Perhaps it was from inhaling dust and germs while mowing lawns, running at Rim Rock Farms amidst ticks and spiders, or possibly from university dorms. There’s a chance I had been walking around with pneumonia for a long time before it revealed itself. Regardless of the cause, I now know that I am healthy, and that good health is not to be taken for granted. Moreover, I’ve learnt the importance of being thankful for what you can do—even when it’s seemingly insignificant.

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