I wasn't expecting my Christmas illness to land me in the hospital for a week, but that's what it came down to. After a miserable Christmas of fevers & coughing, 3 doctors gave me 3 different antibiotics, none of which helped the pneumonia that appeared on my chest x-rays. Finally, my PCP said it was time to check into the hospital. I thought this meant a speedy recovery with IV meds & expert doctors...riiiiiiiiiight.
We checked into Hillcrest (my last choice, but naturally, the one affiliated with my doctor) in Tulsa on Monday 1-11 around 11:30 am. A decrepit old man took us up to my room, which was inexplicably on the orthopedic floor. The room was still being cleaned by a short, round Indian lady, so we just hung out in the hallway. After about 15 minutes we asked the nurse what was up. They had no clue what to do with me. Another hour passes & finally I'm wheeled down to X-ray to repeat the exact same one I had at my doctor's office that morning...They parked me in the hallway with some scary people on beds who were moaning. I started my afternoon chills & was violently shaking. They left me down there for at least 20 minutes. I was not happy...I hadn't had lunch yet, and it was around 2:30, so I was going to pass out soon. I think around 3 I got some hospital food, but poor Ron was afraid to leave me there with no care. Sometime in the late afternoon a doctor stopped by & ordered some antibiotics. I sat in the bed for several hours waiting for those to come. They took at least 10 viles of blood from me all night long. My fevers kept spiking to 102-103 & they would take at least an hour to bring 2 Tylenol. I was about to self medicate from my purse & save myself a lot of grief...The first night I slept maybe 1.5 hours when they were taking blood or giving me a breathing treatment or getting vitals.
The following days were kind of blur. Lots of fevers, TV, & hospital food. Ron's mom was nice enough to stay with me for a couple nights to harass the staff. I had a horrible night where the medicine was burning my veins so badly they had to move the IV, but apparently, my veins are "small & weak" according to the nurses. They decided to scrap the whole idea after a very painful IV insertion, & to put in something called a PICC line, which goes into a large vein in your upper arm that they can take blood from or put in medicine. Mine was 22cm long, which is weird. That was quite an ordeal getting it in, they use an ultrasound machine to see where to put it. No more painful IV after that! I only made it through that night with a ton of prayer. Thank God for Ron & his mom! 
They tried 3 IV antibiotics with no results before the idiot "hospitalist" decided to call in the pulmonary specialists. They could tell right away it was something weird & not the type of pneumonia they were treating me for. They also got an infectious disease doctor to come in & they suddenly whisked me away to a pressurized air room with scary people in masks to do a TB test. I was like, what the heck? I'd already been in the same room for 4 days infecting the whole hospital? Then they wouldn't even let me leave the room with a mask on. My room had this super loud blower that blew the air outside instead of circulating it around the hospital.
Luckily, they realized I did not have anything catching after a day or so. Whew. At least I had a large private room. :) The next step was to go into my lungs & remove a sample. This freaked me out & I couldn't eat or drink after midnight before it. I knew this was trouble because my fevers were coming every day usually around 2 PM, & 2 or 3 AM. No water, no Tylenol=miserable Beth. So, it happened just like that. I felt the fever climbing, & they checked it at 103.2 & did absolutely nothing. Then it was 104 & they decided to throw me in the shower with clothes on & give me a fast-acting Tylenol where the sun don't shine...if you catch my drift. Not my proudest moment!!
The bronchoscopy was horrendous. They numbed my throat with a combination of this nasty "cherry-flavored" spray & a cocktail of some other numbing agents through a breathing tube. Both made me gag & cough so I couldn't finish it. Then they gave me a very short-term sedative so they could stick several tubes down my throat into my lungs. They took out several viles of gunk to analyze. Ick. That's when they found out it wasn't bacterial, and they starting coming up with all sorts of hypotheses. First it was Eosinophilic pneumonia, which could be caused by environmental allergens or even parasites. The new treatment was steroids, so finally they ordered those & the fevers stopped after one dosage. They took me off of everything else, including the evil Mucinex, which they kept telling me would get everything out of my lungs. Instead it made me throw up, dry heave, & basically destroy my abs & lungs from coughing. I took great pleasure in hearing the specialist yell at the nurses that "there was nothing in there to come up!" I'd been trying to tell them that for a week....
No more fevers, just a ton of night sweats, while on the steroids. My parents came down when I was nearing recovery to hang out for hours my room. Not too thrilling, but they enjoyed the hospital food, go figure. They finally released me Monday afternoon (1-18) to take decreasing dosages of the pills for several weeks. The final word was that the pneumonia was idiopathic, meaning they have no idea what caused it. The pulmonologist said he hadn't seen it since his medical exams (he was no spring chicken either). He kept using terms like "freaky" & "weird." Still praying for my lungs to be all clear soon. I'm so thankful that they figured it out, just irritated that it took so long. I should have called in Dr. House from the beginning. Dang. My poor husband has been so neglected for a month. Thanks for taking care of me, Ron!
Maybe I can get back to some crafting here soon. I've been wrestling with some knitting for months now with no decent results. I don't think I have the patience for it. I bought the Wacom Bamboo Craft tablet with my Christmas money, and I've just gotten everything installed. It looks like it's going to be awesome. It came with all sorts of tutorials & software, so I'm anxious to figure that out soon.
We've got another winter storm here in NE Oklahoma this week. I burrowed in yesterday when the freezing rain started with my knitting & sewing & a good book. After a lovely sheet of ice covered everything we've transitioned into snow.
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