Tami Sam: I was also born a night owl too! My mom said that I also didn't sleep much due to my meds. I slept about 6 hrs every night. She hated it. lol. I love my sleep but stupid insomnia sucks!!!
I warn you- this is long.
I have Asthma. I've had it since birth. Been hospitalized many times with Asthma, Pneumonia, and Bronchitis too many times to even keep track. I missed alot of school as a young child due to this. I always knew that people had died of Asthma when not being controlled so we try my best to have it controlled and usually it's fine, it's just when I get sick that it gets so bad that requires the constant ER visits and hospitalizations stays.
Anyways - this one night, my Asthma attack became super bad & I thought "oh great, another Asthma attack, okay. . ." and took a few breathing treatments but noticed that none of it was helping at all. So 'cause I was at my Grandma's and had just gotten out of the shower, I told my Dad to call 911 but he didn't think it was that severe as he's seen me thru many Asthma attack, he said "I'll just drive your car & take you" but I knew he drank a little and while I knew he wasn't drunk, I had a nagging feeling that told me I needed Paramedics here asap. Luckily, my Dad's ex girlfriend's sister happened to be there & she, too, has Asthma. She could tell by the way I told her like this "I. . . don't. . . feel. . . right. . . please. . . call. . . 9. . . 1. . . 1. . .!" she knew I was serious and got my Dad to call. They come like 4 minutes later & I remember seeing two Paramedics dudes. One of 'em told me "Okay sweetie, it's time to let go of your breathing treatment." & I told him "No, I can't, if I do, I will die! Seriously, I feel like I'm about to die soon!" and he said "I won't let that happen, we're here to take care of you." So I let him pick me up to carry me. I remember passing thru the living room and pointed to my hearing aid which was on the entertainment center, but either they didn't see me or didn't understand what I wanted. then we were about to go out the front door, but I don't remember passing the front door. As, next thing I knew, I was waking up in the ambulance feeling really weird & was in pain. I noticed the ambul bag thingy being on my face & that I couldn't talk. I was well aware of what was going on and so minutes later we arrived at the ER & they moved me & noticed that I was getting better & aware of everything. So they let me go off the oxygen so I could talk with them and let them take care of me. The two paramedics came to see me before they left and I asked them what happened and that's when they told me that they saved my life. :/
See, what happened was- my body was so tired of fighting so hard to breathe during the asthma attack & since my breathing treatments wasn't helping. I developed tachycardia, which is fast heartbeats & so after a few minutes of that, my body couldn't take it anymore, so in a way, I "died" & they brought me back. :/
I was scared for many months that it'd happen again. And it seriously did. October 3rd, I was visiting my old interpreter who I had on and off from 1st grade-HS. I also happened to date her son during her son & my senior year. Heh. We remained friends though. Anyways, I was at her house visiting. I had been there for about 1.5 hrs with the girls and was getting ready to leave despite how awful my asthma was. As I was getting ready to leave, I decided to tell her what happened to me in May 'cause she hadn't known about that. But the strange thing is, the same shit from May happened to me shortly after I told her the story. Really weird, huh? :/
But this time it was worse. When I told her to call 911, she did right away and they arrived w/in 4 mins. But, these 2 Paramedics [different ones than the last time] thought I was being a drama queen, or trying to seek attention so they stood at the door talking with each other while my interpreter friend was yelling at them to help me. Finally 'cause I was developing Tachycardia, I knew I was gonna be out any minutes, I was sitting on her couch, trying so hard to breathe & be as calm as possibile as to not make it worse. I fell over & was on the floor turning gray super fast. :/ The asshole Paramedics rushed to me and helped bring me back. Later, they cut my shirt and saw that I was wearing a patch, but they didn't know what it was, they asked her if it was a birth control patch, or smoking patch, or this or that, and she didn't know. So the assholes decided that I was committing suicide! My friend told them "No, I seriously doubt she is, she has two little girls as you can see and seems very happy!" But they didn't listen to her & decided to give me a shot of Narcan to reverse what they thought was drug overdose. :/ So, when I got to the hospital, they lied to the hospital and told them nothing about my Asthma attack, just simply said that I was a drug overdoser. :/ So, ugh, I was put on suicide watch. My husband arrived & wasn't allowed to see me. They explained that they asked me if I wanted to see him and I didn't respond. Uh hello? The fuckers took out my hearing aid at my friends' house & would not listen to her when she explained that I needed it in order to hear them or the staff at the hospital. Plus, I was all fucked up from the drugs that they gave me, I felt like I was floating in and out. It was such a horribile experience.
My husband was like "Um, do you guys realize, she's DEAF?! The EMS probably took her hearing aid out & she probably doesn't even have it in right now." so they let him in and saw that I immeditely responded to him very well. So he signed to me becuase my hearing aid was still at my friends house. And he told me that they thought I was trying to kill myself. So I had to tell 3 different Dr's that I wasn't. And my hsuband explained that I had an asthma attack and like May, probably had tachycardia. So then that's when they started treating me for the actual reason I was there!!!
My friend arrived the next day and stayed for like 4+ hrs as she interpretted for me thru my EKG test. She told me all of what happened the night before at her house & said that I gave her nightmares & I'm not allowed back ever again. lol. She's very sarcastic. So I knew she was just teasing me. :P
But yeah, that's the hell I went thru in May & Oct. Well, May wasn't so bad. It's Oct 3rd experience that terrified me so bad. I was then finally referred to an allergist/asthma Dr. He was shocked when he found out that I was not on any type of shots or anything to keep my Asthma in control. So we started me on monthly Xolair shots and it has been a lifesavor. I now don't even ever touch my inhaler or breathing machine, ever. In fact, I hadn't had an Asthma attack since Oct 3rd! it's amazing. So, I'm hoping I will never have to experience what I went thru ever again 'cause I wanna be here as long as possible to raise my girls & to annoy my husband. :P Hehe. :]
Sorry this is long, but best way I could tell the story. :/
Hope I didn't scare yall, esp those with Asthma! If any of you Asthmatics had experienced the same, do tell!
