10 On The 10th: January 2022

This week has not gone at all like I thought it would. We were supposed to be leaving today for a short getaway to celebrate Dave's 40th birthday, which is on Monday. Unfortunately, my body decided it had other plans.

Since it's Covid and our province has gone back to Step 2 (whatever that means -- partial lockdown and more restrictions), we'd planned something for Dave's birthday, and then we've revised it and revised it again. By the time we made our getaway plans, we were on Plan Q or something like that. However, Plan Q involved possibly going downhill skiing which the kids have never done.

So on Sunday, we were at our local ski hill, waiting in a long line to rent equipment and sign the kids up for an intro lesson when I started feeling fairly awful. The left side of my chest was aching and I couldn't get comfortable. It felt like a sore muscle but also like something... not good... was happening.

Finally, much to the kids' disappointment, I said we needed to leave. As we were walking to our car I felt a big squeeze on my left side (lung/heart area) and lost my breath. We headed to the ER, wondering if I was having a heart attack. I received very good, and very quick, service and after about an hour (and heart monitoring and x-rays and blood work and a EKG and...) the doctor announced it was a spontaneous pneumothorax.

Back in 1999 and 2000, I had two spontaneous pneumothoraces (sudden, random partial lung detachment) on my right lung and had surgery in February 2000 to fix the issue. I have had no problems since then. Until this week.

Now I have one on my left side. The current plan is "take it easy and monitor." I can't shovel snow, go to work, or lift anything heavy -- the doctor specifically mentioned "like piles of books" which makes me think the fact that Dave and I brought a bag with three books (two for me, one for him) to the appointment was a dead giveaway!!!

In my two previous experiences with this, my lung fixed itself -- the hole stopped leaking and my lung completely reinflated on its own. As of yesterday (my third monitoring x-ray), my lung showed "slight improvement and no leaking." Unless anything changes suddenly, I don't need to go back for another x-ray until Monday.

So this is my "10 on the 10th" of Natasha's Hospital Visit And Being Assigned To Bed Rest.

When we got to the hospital, even though it was no longer an emergency, I still had to register with the emergency room. Here are Dave and I waiting to be triaged and to register. I'm so thankful Dave could stay with me through the whole process.

Hospital gowns are so flattering. Because I was so cold the previous day at the hospital (likely because I'd been standing outside for over an hour when it happened), and hospital gowns are all short sleeved, I brought my sherpa jacket to keep me warm.

Dave has been allowed in as my "care partner" and he gets a special sticker, designating him as such.

This pole at the parking lot, covered with Care Partner stickers, made Dave and I laugh.

For some reason I am always cold when I get home from the hospital so I was in bed, under two blankets, with a snack and a book.

I am amassing quite the collection of hospital bracelets. Excellent accessories, I tell you :)

Okay, at least they make good bookmarks. And yes, I've basically been reading a book a day since this whole ordeal started.

I was really craving a salad so Dave bought a superfoods salad at the grocery store while the rest of my family ate Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Rachel enjoys using this handy flowered tray to bring me things in bed -- a pear for a snack, a cookie, my phone.

Since there are only so many pictures I can take from bed, this picture is actually from the next day. I asked Dave to bring a bouquet of tulips upstairs so I'd be able to enjoy them.

 

And that was my more exciting, but simultaneously more boring than I'd anticipated, January 10th. Hopefully by February 10th, this is all a memory and we've gotten on with our lives...