Asthma Attack... Steroids...

[ibelieve 0]

I just need to vent a little, as I have had a setback in the middle of my pre-op two weeks (diet and the surgery itself)

I am a little bummed, Friday night an asthma flare went downhill, so I ended up at Urgent Care at 1 am, and from there, I was sent by ambulance to hospital to be admitted... because I had been started on 5 days of prednisone(steroid) on Thursday morning and had gotten worse instead of better after two days of treatment...

Long story short, the two treatments at Urgent Care, and the oxygen in the ambulance must have started to work about the time they loaded me into the ER treatment room... and I ended up being able to leave there at 5 a.m... but then I was home, and trying to sleep, and got a call from the hospital to come back in as a radiologist did not like something on my chest x-ray so they wanted to evaluate me further...

I went in, had a CT scan with contrast (Radiologist thought they saw "enlarged veins" around the cardiopulmonary connections apparently, so a lot went through my head while waiting for the scan and the report of NO ABNORMALITIES from the scan with contrast... my thoughts were, was it FenPhen that did this and so on and so forth...

But now I am afraid the gain from the steroids (mostly Fluid retention) and the restricted pre-op diet (could this be too severe for someone who is so sick), and will the Surgeon push back my date...

I was so afraid of this all winter, as they would not give me a date, would not give me a date, in spite of insurance approval very early on - since the later it gets in Spring, the more likelihood of asthma (this has been a problem for the past year)...

I will not know anything, until I have the pre-op eval. with the anesthesiology team at the new pre-op work-up clinic they have. I see the surgeon after that. He will weigh me again, and there there will be all of this flurry of medical activity this weekend for me, to consider. But at least I know my heart, lungs, aorta, etc all looked normal on the CT scan.

Anyway, my lungs are still pretty reactive, and I have a feeling my surgery is going to be pushed back at least a week or two... :laugh:

[TXAmy07 0]

Wow, that REALLY stinks.......

I was born premature and had underdeveloped lungs and as a result had asthma for a lot of my childhood that had me in and out of the hospital. So while it's been a while since I have had anything as bad as you (I don't get attacks any more, I just have a smoker's cough as a result of the asthma nowadays - something I am praying will go away after weight loss) I can sort of relate. At least, to the whole feeling of that stuff.

Anyways, I am sorry to hear this. I'm glad to hear everything went okay as far as the scans though - at least now you can put the thoughts out of your head. And yeah it SUCKS to think you're this close and it could be delayed... but don't think that way yet! You never know... When is your pre-op appt? Can you just call the surgeon's office and get their opinion?

I know it's easier to say this but it IS better to be at 100% for the surgery. Then again, I also know you were venting so that's all I will say on that. :thumbup:

The Bandito tribe will be crossing our fingers for you (yes, I totally just spoke for the group :laugh:) for good news!!!!!

Let us know what happens.

Amy

[ibelieve 0]

I sent my Surgeon an email about it, and CC'd my PCP. The Attending's in the ER recommended seeing a Pulmonologist since this is the 5th severe attack in 11 months - I only used to get this way when I was sick with the flu, in winter, but last May it turned into something else altogether... unresponsive to steroids...

Which was why I was SO into not having it done by Christmas... I wanted to be get it done before Flu Season hit, and to be slimmed down a bit by summer, and then all set before the new asthma situation could develop in the Spring...

I have a hunch, since I used to work for Surgeons... that my surgery will be delayed until the pulmonologist signs off.

:laugh:

Edited April 27, 2009 by ibelieve
typos, grammar