I haven’t had any more hemoptysis (blood) since the second embolization. Yay!!! My groin is very sore where they went in for both embolisms. They went in on the right side for both embolisms. My chest is a little sore. Since I’ve been laying in bed for the last 4 days, it doesn’t take much for me to ‘overdue’ it. I washed my hair in the sink and it was just enough to make the pain in the groin more noticeable. Also, I get short of breath more easily right now due to the embolisms. Basically, my lungs have had a bit of trauma over the last week. Continue reading
Tag Archives: dealing
Coughing up blood is no good
Well today didn’t turn out the way I planned at all! I woke up around 3am coughing up blood. It was a few tablespoons or a little more. It finally tapered off after about 30 min. Back to sleep for me, not good sleep but some sleep.
Then my day started off with a fantastic visit with a great friend. Then it was time for all of my errands. First stop of weekly labs at UT. I have to have labs 2-3 times a week when I’m on IV antibiotics to monitor my kidney levels, liver levels, blood counts, etc. Then it was on to my errands. First stop was Staples to pick up more Shannonigans flyers and donation letters! Then of course I had to stop by Sun Tan City to get tanning points because they went on sale today! They are for when I’m off of IVs…Hopefully that is sooner rather than later. Next stop, Target for a few things.
When leaving Sun Tan City I started coughing at 12:30pm, I started coughing up blood again. I drove to my next destination, Target, while coughing up blood. I sat in the car coughing and hacking up blood for a good 30 minutes. It finally subsided enough to streaks so I could “run” (we all know I am not running anywhere) into Target to get 2 polo shirts for the teenager. He goes to his moms for the summer and they will be doing family pics so he needed something nicer. Next up was a run through the bank, a stop at the pet store for dog food and then Hobby Lobby for a quick tour. Did some window shopping and took pictures of what I liked for the teenagers room makeover this summer (it’s a surprise). His room has been the same for 5 plus years. I don’t usually talk about the kids for their privacy and out of respect for their mom. This has been a monumental month….the teenager turned 16 and is now street legal in his new car. He is doing decent on his own so for. The young adult child is going great in college and getting her first apartment. She is growing up and adulting!! We all are very proud of them both, myself,their dad and their mom.
On my way home I realized that I still needed to get a watering can for plants and to dilute the boys (dogs) pee so they will stop killing grass and plants by peeling on them. Hahaha
I got home and was taking care of all of office stuff and once again the blood mama pouring out! This was at 3:30pm. I texted my husband and asked him to come home. I made the dreaded phone call to my nurse and she called back in about 8 minutes. She said my doc wanted me to go to the ER and that he had already called all the people he needed to to let them know I was on my way and what was up. He had already requested a bed for me and all. He also had written down what he wanted them to do for/with me. All together I coughed up probably 3-5 ounces. Heck a little bit is enough for me to not be a fan of it.
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- Bright red blood from my crappy lungs (this was the 2nd bleed of the 3)
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- This is what pure blood from the lungs looks like
I got checked in and triaged quickly, then the wait was on for an ER room. Then off to chest CT for a scan with contrast (thank God for ‘Pollie’ my power port). The scan didn’t show any active bleeds at that moment. After the scan, I was whisked away to my room. I am in the CVICU (cardio vascular ICU) for monitoring due to the massive blood espisodes. I will hopefully see my CF doc tomorrow. I’m hoping it’s one of the duckling doc I know and like. It makes my life in here easier. I am on IV Zosyn (just like I was at home every 6 hours), IV Colistin (every 12 hours IV push) and staying on the oral high dose Bactrim (1600mg three times a day).
I have no idea how long I will be in lock up. My husband seems to think it will be a short stay but we shall see. I am NPO after midnight just in case they need to perform a procedure of some sort like a bronchoscopy or exploration in IR (Interventional Radiology). I just stuffed my face with a cheese burger and Mac and cheese?
The plus is, I got all of my errands run. The negative is, I didn’t get all the phone calls Made, or the laundry done, or office stuff organized…. Oh and I was short of breath all day AND I coughed up blood 3 times. The day started off good even with the middle of the night blood situation. It was a beautiful day in East TN and now I’m in lock up! Ugh
REMINDERS:
5/24: Tomorrow is the Texas Hold’em tournament, silent auction and 50/50 raffle!! It is at Tanners in Lenexa at 7pm. Invite your friends even if it’s just to hang out. It is being held in my moms memory and to raise funds for the Shannonigans Lung Fund Texas Hold’em Tournament, silent auction and 50/50 Raffle
6/5: The deadline for Shannonigns Gear online sale!!!! Please try to budget it in for your last paycheck of May. I REALLY don’t want anyone to miss out in this fabulous design. Http://design.goteez.com/Shannonigan_strong Ready, set, shop……
Shannonigan Strong online sale
9/17: 2nd Annual Shannonigans Cornhole Tournament held at the Casual Pint-Northshore at 2pm. Lots of raffle items including a custom set of cornhole boards! 2 Annual Shannonigans Cornhole Tournament
To make a direct donation to the Shannonigans Lung Fung, there are 3 ways:
http://www.gofund.me/shannonigans
http://www.paypal.me/shannonigans
Personal (non rubber) check made out to myself.
I am super tired. I’m off of here and I hope I didn’t forget anything. I’ll update tomorrow when we have a news worthy update.
Until next time….
Our time in the ER and getting settled in my room. I look thrilled huh?
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- And we wait…but the people watching was great
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- My OCD went into overdrive with all these stupid twisted cords
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- Finally in my bed, snuggled up with my mama’s Sherpa and my pillow from home. Oh and of course this guy watching over me 24/7.
Welcome back Oscar…Oral ABX are stupid!
Today is brought to you by the number 53. What is the significance of 53? It is the number of days since I last finished IV antibiotics (7 weeks 5 days). As I updated in my last blog I grew out some new bacteria called Achromobacter xylosoxidans. I’m going to call it just ‘Achromobacter,’ from now on because that is a lot to type. Continue reading
A little of this and a little of that
Let’s see….where to start. It’s been 7 days since my power port was placed. I’m healing nicely. There has been minimal swelling and bruising. The most painful part is the incision healing. I have been using ice packs for the swelling and bruising. There is a steri-strip over the incision that will come off when it’s ready. I sure do want to rip it off though, it is making it to where if I move a certain way it pulls and is painful. Continue reading
CF Clinic, Power Port, Grief
Yesterday (5/5/16) was good ol CF clinic. Nothing spectacular to report there really in the sense that we didn’t change anything or add any extra tests. My PFTs (lung functions were) basically the same. My FEV1 was .93 L/ 31%. My first 2 attempts were identical at .89 L/ 30%. If I were a healthy (NON CF) Shannon the predictable FEV1 I should get is 2.96 L. That is based on my age, gender, height, weight and race. Continue reading
2 appointments today
Today was a busy fun filled day at UT hospital for 2 doctor appointments. Ok, it wasn’t so fun filled but it sure was a long one. It was about 7 hours today. I had a big lapse of time between appointments which I spent in the cafeteria having some lunch and watching a movie with my sound canceling headphones so I could actually hear the movie. Oh yes and of course answering emails, Fb messages and comments,etc. Continue reading
My reality at the moment
My day starts with lots of coughing which in turns means I need to do a breathing treatment and vest session ASAP to get as much junk out as I can and to get my lungs to calm down. Usually I’m coughing quite a bit throughout the night as well. I always try to “cough it out” to avoid getting up to do a treatment, but that doesn’t always work. I haven’t had uninterrupted sleep in so long. I can’t remember when the last time was. I have just learned to sleep in spurts. If you total the actual amount of time I am asleep at night it would be between 4-6 hours most of the time, between the coughing, possible breathing treatment to calm the coughing, bathroom breaks and tossing and turning. Continue reading
2fer – health update & transplant talk
It was great to have my sister and aunt here for a few days. They got here Wednesday afternoon and once we had some girl talk we decided to go for pedicures. Thursday was mom’s birthday so we were off to mom’s favorite Japanese steak house for lunch. After lunch we were just out and about. I had to cut our outing short because my stomach was not treating me nice and I needed a good breathing treatment, not just on my travel nebulizer. Continue reading
Clinic day: Follow up
Today was clinic day and a short one at that, in terms of normal clinic days. No complaints here. It seemed like everyone was on vacation. My question is, why didn’t they take me with them? haha Continue reading
Just a little update
Today is day 25 of IV Zerbaxa, counting from day one in the hospital. I was switched to oral Levaquin from IV when I was discharged from the hospital 14 days ago. I tolerate IV Levaquin way better than oral Levaquin. Levaquin makes me super nauseous therefore I am nauseous most of the time. My stomach is super sensitive right now so I’m trying to eat lightly. I’m trying to eat things I ‘think’ will be smooth on my stomach but it doesn’t seem to be working all that well. haha Continue reading
CF Happens 