February 07th, 2018

​I had an incredible experience last week. I woke up Tuesday morning around 4 a.m. and I couldn’t breathe. It took me a few moments to catch my breath. Also, I had sharp pains in my back. I thought I had a heart attack, but then I fell back to sleep. When I woke up, I was worried about my health.

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My mother picked me up and drove me to the Brantford General Hospital. Since everyone knows me there (I volunteer in the emergency department every Wednesday), I was seen very quickly. A bed was found for me and I was immediately sent for blood tests, EKG and x-rays.

We didn’t have to wait too long for the doctor to tell me that I had a collapsed right lung. He asked if I had fallen? No. Was I hit in the chest? No. Have I been on an airplane? No. He then concluded that it was a spontaneous pneumothorax. These things can just happen for no reason.

He immediately took me into a ward and operated on me by sticking a tube in my chest. While under the effects of anaesthesia, I just couldn’t believe there was something wrong with me. It was quite a shock. As I woke up, they asked me if I was okay. I replied, “I’m just pissed there’s something wrong with me.”

The doctor patched me up well and sent me home, but every time I took a breath, I received a sharp pain in my chest. It was agonizing. I was put on Tylenol 3 with codeine but because I hadn’t been eating, I had terrible stomach pains so I didn’t sleep at all Tuesday night.

Mom and I returned to the hospital the next afternoon. It took me a long time to be seen, about two hours until I was put into a treatment room. I had another x-ray. Then I sent my mother home because the doctor said I would have a clamp placed on the tube and I had to wait 2 hours to be x-rayed again to make sure the lung expanded.

I waited 2-3 hours to be x-rayed again. Luckily, a young woman shared my space and we talked the whole time. She was sweet but suffering from terrible asthma. She kept me entertained.

Then I had an x-ray with the clamp and it seems everything was good so the doctor took the tube out. She was excellent and it didn’t hurt. But by this time, it was around 12:30 a.m. She wanted me to have another x-ray before I went home but there was only one x-ray technician on duty at that hour and she was busy in the wards. After about 30 minutes, she finally took me in.

Now, it’s 1:30 a.m. and I had been at the hospital since 2:30 p.m. I waited around for the doctor to tell me the results of the x-ray. I decided to go looking for a nurse and I told her I had to go home. I was exhausted. Finally saw the doctor and he said the lung was perfect so I dragged myself to the phone and called a taxi who had me home by 2 a.m.

When I got home, I filled my mom in with everything that had happened then I went to bed sleeping for 12 hours and I woke up at 2 p.m. the next day.

Everything went so fast that the few days are a blur. The doctors, nurses, volunteers and staff were excellent. Everyone was joking that I was on the wrong side and I just said, “I had to see how the other half lives.”

If you get sick, I recommend the Brantford General. I was treated extremely well and had a very positive experience for such a serious nature.

Here’s a link to the cover of my latest novel. Check it out and let me know what you think.
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Have fun,
Patty