Our Trip Down the Street to the ER

It has been an interesting weekend!

On Friday I was cleaning under the sink and was putting down new contact paper. Apparently I reached in an awkward position and threw something off in my whole chest area. As we were sitting and eating dinner, something hurt in my chest – I automatically thought it was my heart. As the night went on, I was finding it harder and harder to breathe, yet the pain was directly on my sternum. Every deep breath I took and every movement I made that involved my sternum, it hurt. I knew what it was – my sternum wires.

I went to bed Friday night, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep – I couldn’t lay down because of the pain. I somehow fell asleep until 3:00am, and then I was toast. I was trying to go back to sleep, but I was feeling sick to my stomach and was getting all sweaty because the pain was so intense. Every move I made, hurt so badly and I could only take shallow breaths. Dan woke up because of my tossing and turning and he knew we had to go.

To the ER we went – I am SO THANKFUL that the hospital is literally 3 blocks away from our house! We walked right in and got settled into an ER room. I couldn’t lay down (or barely sit), so I leaned up against the edge of the bed. I could tell they didn’t really know what to do as I explained my symptoms. I was very short of breath, in excrutiating pain, and I knew it was my wires. They tried to get a IV into me 6 times, but my veins kept blowing. Mind you, this is over a 2 1/2 hour period (the IV tries). I just wanted SOMETHING for the pain! They finally gave me vicodin in pill form and some other shot in my arm because they never got the IV in. I am full of pretty colors because of the attempts – I just felt bad for them because 3 different nurses tried to start the IV, but my veins just were just too small. It was too early in the morning and I know the heart meds I’m on don’t help the issue. Anytime I have to have a IV in the morning, it’s bad news.

They also did a chest x-ray – they discovered that one of my wires (that held my sternum together after my open heart surgery), is untied. But that doesn’t explain why my WHOLE sternum – from my throat to stomach, was hurting to badly. They are thinking the area around all the wires was just severely inflamed, causing restriction on breathing and the pain. I guess with all the scar tissue this can happen – they are just worried about infections. So tomorrow I have to go to my physician for a follow-up, to make sure that nothing else is going on.

They sent me home with prescriptions for Vicodin (for the pain) and Motrin (to reduce the inflammation). I will say I am doing MUCH better today. I haven’t been in that much pain since open heart surgery! I always react very strangely to Vicodin, so I’ve been really crazy since then, but the inflammation has definitely gone down! Still in some pain, but it’s manageable. I got a GREAT night’s sleep last night and I skipped church because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit in a chair for a lengthy period of time. I am definitely on the up and up, which feels great! I am thankful it is just my sternum (and not anything with my heart). It’s just weird that something as strange as reaching under the sink flexed my sternum just enough to throw all the wires off! Here I can play and dive for volleyball just fine and then this happens? Dan and I have been saying all weekend that it is just “weird.” But, everything happens for a reason! And we are just thankful that I am feeling better and am able to at least function now! And I must say, I am a little weird myself, so it’s fitting right :)?

We just again, praise God that it was a slower weekend and that healing has begun! My hope someday is to just get those suckers (wires) removed so I don’t continue to have this issue! I’ve had one or two wires irritated before, but not the whole set!