Bless Me, I Am Gonna Need All The Help I Can Get

I have never ever sneezed this much in my entire life.

The lower part of my lungs had collapsed while I was in ICU last October and then the right one partially collapsed again several weeks later. I went through a lot of forced air breathing treatments. A large machine with hoses and mouthpieces and medication and a nagging person in scrubs visited me several times a day and made me basically suck on an air compressor and take in as much pressure as I could for as long as I could as many times as I could. All while splinting my slit middle section with a pillow to avoid popping the forty-something staples out that held all my stuffing in. The point was to expand my lungs again and also to force the fluid that had built up around my lungs to be reabsorbed into my body and out of my lung cavity. This allowed me to escape the alternative plan of extracting said fluid with a very long needle and catheter through my back just below the shoulder blade between two of my ribs, with no anesthesia. Yeah. Still makes me hurt to think about it too. I also had months of rehabilitation with an Incentive Spirometer. So even though I probably have about 80% to 90% of my lung capacity back I can still tell that I am not 100%. I noticed this summer that I got winded easily while swimming. I figured it would get better and better with time. Hasn't seemed to though. If i try to inhale as deeply as I can I start coughing and my lungs kind of quiver. Very strange. I always try to get Terry to put his ear up next to my mouth when I do that so he can hear my breath when I do that but it freaks him out. Since that whole experience I have a gripping pain under my entire ribcage when I yawn. Like all of my ribs are bruised. Enough to make me say "Owww!" every single time I yawn. Most of the time I don't even realize I say that now. I am pretty used to it. The doctor has no explanation as to why this happens. Which brings me to the point of mentioning this. Sneezing is a complete bitch! I thought yawning hurt! I have probably sneezed fifty times today. So my ribs feel like I have been someone's punching bag. Very odd. At least it takes my mind off the horrible congestion behind my eyes and nose. Okay, enough whining.

I woke up at 12:30 this afternoon in a post medicated haze. I hate that. Groggy. Filmy. Icky.

We then decided to take a lazy drive over to the beach. He took pictures. I DJ via iPod. Then some dinner where I guzzled two frosty mugs of beer as it was a twofer. Nice lil buzz.Then Starbucks. Now we are home. Comfy on the couch, playing with my new iSight.

Incidentally, we just happened upon some television show about Jesus and what some people think he might have looked like and different people from the Bible and what some believe the relationships of these people may have been to Jesus. They were showing different paintings of scenes with Jesus and Terry made the comment that one of the paintings looked more like an orgy. To which I replied that Jesus was a player and that that made Satanists player haters. Then he proceeded to move a few inches farther away from me as I would most likely be struck down by lightening any minute. I thought it was mildly amusing so I thought I would share.

Oh quit looking at me like that. I was joking. Don't be hatin'!

Posted by gwendolyn on December 27, 2003 at 09:20 PM