Day Three ~ Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I was wide awake very early Wednesday morning. It was only three something in Denver and Stacey was doing her thing to brighten my day with antics from our classrooms. We texted back and forth for a bit until she had to head to work. Little did I know how different this day was going to be.
It started with a simple ENT consult with Dr. Todd Kingdom. Like every other doctor at National Jewish, he must have had to pass the phenomenal doctor test to be there! He was wonderful. He explained my tri-ad asthma a bit more and reviewed the sinus CT. He felt like with the other things Dr. Olson was focusing on, sinus surgery was something that could be put on the back burner. He hoped the sinus problems would be eliminated by resolving the other related problems over time.
That was the end of simple for the day. I went to the dreaded third floor for a bronchial provocation test & a laryngoscopy. Dr. Olson performed the procedure. The laryngoscopy revealed that I had severe VCD (vocal cord dysfunction) which means that my vocal cords simply close off my airway constantly and uncontrollably adding to my breathing problems. She also shared that they had found something on the ECHO and needed to do further testing in the cardiac unit. She was trying to work out the schedule to add several more tests and a cardiology consult.
After being slammed with that information, I had to go to the MIDC procedure area for a bronchoscopy (also by Dr. Olson) and an impedance insertion. With only minutes to spare, I tried to fill Mom in on what Dr. Olson had said. It was pretty overwhelming at the time especially when you think about the fact that I had been living under the strong impression that my problem was strictly asthma for years. So much was going through my head and there I was heading in for another IV and anesthesia. There was no time to process anything, I just had to move forward and know it was all for good.
I woke up from the bronchoscopy to the comforting voice of Dr. Olson telling me it was over. They moved me to a recovery room where they inserted the impedance probe. That was not my cup of tea! It was to test for reflux which can also trigger asthma symptoms. The probe had to stay in for 24 hours. It was horrid. The probe results revealed that I have silent reflux which trigger asthma exacerbations.
The last thing of the day was a six-minute rehab walk test and they sent us on our way. I remember being pretty quiet that night. It had been a taxing day, but I don't think I was as exhausted physically as I was mentally. I was worried about Mom and didn't want to make things harder on her. I was feeling guilty about not being at work and doing my job. I had missed so much work already for the year. Finally, there was the confusion factor. What was going on with this information? I was at the National Jewish Lung Institute because I had uncontrolled asthma. Where did this heart stuff come into play? That's when I did what I often do. I stopped my thoughts, took a breath, smiled, and said everything will be okay. I knew it was all for the good of God's plan so I did all I could do to press on.
