Just need to vent a little. Hope that is ok. Last Feb I became very ill and ended up in the icu on life support for 6 weeks. I had a bad took back in Jan. 2007 and had it pulled. Well the infection got into my bloodstream and ended up settling in my heart causing endocarditis. (infection of the heart) Then I got septic and ended up with ARDS (Acute Respitory Distress Syndrome) All this happened while my husband was in Iraq. We live neary 400 miles from our closest family members. I called my parents a few days before I went into the hospital and told them that I just really wasn't feeling well and asked them to take the kids for a while. At this time I simply thought I have a chest cold or the flu. On the morning of the day that my parents were supposed to show up, I woke up and tried to walk down the stairs (by this time I was unable to walk a few feet without feeling as if I was going passout. I would be SO out of breath) I passed out. My oldest daughter who was 8 years old at the time called 911 and a friend of mine. My friend showed up to sit with the kids until my parents got home. Then the parimedics took me to the er of the hospital here on base. The doctors thought I had had a heart attack. ARDS can cause similar symptoms as heart failure. My parents came to see me in the er before going to get the kids. The doctors told them that they were sending me to a bigger hospital just to be on the safe side. They didn't think I was as bad off as I was. My parents went and got my kids and headed home (a seven hour drive) I was sent to the other hospital. I was put on a resperator. The nurse there in the ICU called to update my partent who were almost home. Then I took a turn for the worst on life support my O2 levels were dropping well into the 60s and sometimes into the 50s. Not good! They called my parents back and told them they should get to the hospital as soon as they could because they didn't expect me to make it through the rest of the time. My parents got in the car (after getting my sister to take my kids) and drove the seven hour drive back to me in less the six. When they arrived they doctors didn't give my parents any hope. The hospital had already notified the Red Cross ( that's how soldiers who are deployed get messages about loved ones who are ill, hurt or who have died) so they could send my husband home. The Red Cross message said ' Wife in hospital. ICU. On lifesupport, outlook grim not expected to make it' He was sent home. It took hime about four days to get to me. When he arrived they still didn't have any hope that I would make it. But after two weeks I slowly started improving. They told them that I would make it but I would probably have brain damage from the lack of O2. At four weeks they brought me out of the medically induced coma. They realized then that had no brain damage. I was mouthing things to them and all that ( I had a trach so I couldn't talk I have to mouth what i needed or wanted to them. My husband got really good at reading lips) They then told my husband that they expected me to have to be in the hospital for atleast 6 months. They moved me from that hospital to a rehabilitation hospital shortly after that. I was on life support for two weeks there then I was taken off. I improved very quickly. I went into the hospital Feb. 21 and left Apr. 21! The doctors were amazed. I have gotten 98 perctent of my lung fuction back. Which is amazing if you consider that the normal ARDS surviver gets about 60-80 percent back. I have a few things wrong. I do get winded from time to time. I get tired easy now. But I'm able to exercise and do normal things. My main issues are mental. I so fear that it will happen again and I won't survive a second time. The chances of this happening are very slim. But as Feb 21 nears I am getting more and more nervous. Strange huh? You'd think I'd feel safer as time passes. Ok I'm done. Just needed to voice that. My family doesn't like to talk about any of what happened so I am left to deal with it on my own.
