Sunday, June 01, 2008 – Can we rotate your tires while you’re here?

As many faithful readers might note I didn’t post an entry on Sunday. Here’s why…Around 2:00 PM Sunday afternoon Betsy experienced a continuous sharp chest pain. Since neither of us could attribute it to the continuing problem of fluid building up around her lungs, I called 911.

Anne Arundel County Emergency Services responded quickly and professionally. Nitroglycerine administered by the paramedics did much to help reduce Betsy’s immediate distress and she was transported to the Anne Arundel Medical Center Emergency Room without the hoopla of lights and sirens. Its so typical of Betsy to stay low key.

Neither the EKG done by paramedics in transport or the two done by ER staff indicated that Betsy had a heart attack. So this was really most curious.

However, a chest x-ray at the ER did show that significant fluid had again amassed around her left lung. Can you say pleural effusion? Once again she was tapped – making for a thoracentesis hat trick and qualifying Betsy for free tire rotation the next time she visits the ER.

This time a catheter was inserted in her lower back and remains in place so the fluid can fully drain. Odds are she will have Pleurodesis performed to resolve this problem.

In additional to vexing heart and lung issues, the ER staff was also concerned with Betsy’s continuing post operative swelling, increased white blood cell count, decreased red cell count, general malaise and the overall suckiness of things.

So all things considered, around 9:30 it was decided that the best option was to admit Betsy to the ICU which happened about a hour later.

But prior to going up to ICU Betsy had to be poked and prodded a little more and get a CAT scan to look for any potential blood clots and a few other things. The scan results were unremarkable.

So around midnight or so Betsy was tucked in under the careful watch of the ICU staff.