July 8
Jim and I went on a trip to North Carolina to be with his amazing family. Jim drove and let me rest on the way there. My shortness of breath was continuing to get worse and I was having more increased sinus and chest congestion with a nasty cough. While in NC, I went to another express care and received codeine cough syrup, which helped the cough and to get some sleep.
July 9
Walking back from the beach with Jim and his family, I became extremely short of breath. The walk was less than 200 meters, I stopped halfway for a break and when I made it back to the beach house, I collapsed on the floor and spent 30+ minutes trying to catch my breath. Jim’s dad is a cardiac thoracic surgeon and his stepmom is a nurse. They could see that something was clearly wrong and insisted I head to the ER. Jim drove me to the hospital and I got another chest x-ray, EKG, Ativan, D Dimor, and more blood work and all tests came back normal. The only abnormal readings were that my C02 and Potassium were low and my white blood cell count was high, which again was said to be due to steroids I had previously taken. Dr. Patrick Snowman was the doctor that treated me in Hilton Head. I remember this specifically because he gave me Valium and suggested I see a therapist because it was likely anxiety and nothing more. (Insert eye roll here)
July 12 – Stress Test at Pulmonary Saint Thomas West
I was continuing to feel worse while in North Carolina, so we left our visit early, drove back to Tennessee and I was able to get in to the Pulmonary department at the hospital for a stress test that Friday. The stress test consisted of walking / jogging on a treadmill with a mask on while they monitored my heart and lungs. I had extreme chest pain, shortness of breath and felt lightheaded. The technicians said all the readings looked good, so they sent me home. I sat in the hallway of the hospital for 30+ minutes before I was able to get to my car and drive home safely.
July 16
This week, after much consideration, I was in Oregon stage managing a fair. I weighed how I was feeling with the needs of the show and was determined that I could successfully work the event. After all, I had been in and out of doctors offices for months and everyone said I was fine. Jim and I had planned an actual vacation in Oregon the week after this event, so I wanted to make it through this show and then have a nice relaxing vacation with him.
I received a call from the nurse with Midstate Pulmonary and she said that my doctor had looked over my stress test results and they were normal. She also said that in looking through my records, she noticed that my CRP level from my last blood work in June was extremely high. A C-Reactive Protein level measures the inflammation in your body and can tell if you are at a high risk for cardiovascular disease. It should be < 1 and mine was a 16.7. I called my primary care doctor about this test result to see why I had not heard about it and they said it came in after the other results in and it was just missed….
July 19
While on-site, I was short a few stagehands, so I helped roll a case up a ramp and on to the stage. That is not a difficult job when done with a team, but immediately after, my heart starting racing, I got short of breath, dizzy and sat down on the stage for a few minutes. I told the staff I could not help anymore and sat in the trailer until I could catch my breath again.
The following day I carried a deli tray from the office to a nearby RV and that was too much for me. A friend nearby saw that I was struggling to walk with the tray and grabbed it for me and took it the rest of the way while I sat and caught my breath. I talked to my Mom and she encouraged me to go to an emergency room if I felt any worse.
July 21
The event was over. We finished load out and I drove back to Portland where I had a hotel room for the night. On the drive up, I was feeling worse and could hear my Mom in my head, so I decided to head on to the emergency room. Jim was supposed to join me in a couple of days to start our vacation and I could not imagine how we were going to do the activities we had planned in my condition. After running multiple tests and admitting me to the hospital they discovered that my blood pressure was high, my heart rate was elevated, the echo-cardiogram showed that my right ventricle of my heart was dilated, the chest CT showed debris in my lungs and they recommended I cancel my vacation, my future work plans and I fly home immediately.
It broke my heart to cancel our vacation, especially since 2019 had been so exhausting. We really needed a break, but I was in no shape to travel. The plan was to vacation for one week and then I was booked to work another festival in Oregon the following week. Unfortunately, I had to bow out of that show and have someone cover my position last minute. I am so extremely thankful for my boss, Dennis, who had been working with me all year on events and following my health concerns. He completely understood and already had a plan for someone to cover for me. Big thanks to Tyler for coming in last minute and doing a great job!
July 24
I had another appointment with the Pulmonologist and ran more blood work. She prescribed 14 days of a higher dose of Prednisone, since that had been the only thing that helped. By this time I was becoming very worried about the amount of Prednisone that I was being given. Risks of Prednisone include an increased risk of osteoporosis, thinning skin, bruising easily, increased risk of infections, increased blood sugar levels, and cataracts.
The following day, I had an echo-cardiogram with bubble study and VQ and both tests, again came back normal.
July 26 – Allergist
Since the beginning of this process, doctors had been saying that the shortness of breath might be caused by allergies. I met with an allergist and got tested for as many things as I could. I learned that I am allergic to dust mites, random weeds, trees and molds, but nothing was profoundly serious and was not the cause of all my symptoms…
July 27
I took a sheet out of the dryer that was rolled up in a comforter, my heart rate jumped to 142 by just trying to get it out. I got extremely hot and lightheaded. It took hours to come back down. Later, I put the sheets on the bed, Jim’s heart rate was 79 and mine jumped to 134. I felt hot again and suddenly got a headache.
July 28
As my shortness of breath got worse, it started to become more difficult to get a good breath while laying down to sleep. This day was the first day that I had to sleep sitting up on the couch.
August 1
My CRP test came back from my latest rounds of blood work and it was 13.7. Something was clearly going on in my body, but no one could pinpoint what was causing the inflammation and symptoms I was experiencing.
August 7
This was my last day of Prednisone and I was feeling significantly better. I was not healed by any means, but I was able to lay down and sleep, my shortness of breath was not as bad and I had more energy. My Pulmonologist wrote me another Prednisone prescription so I could stay on it until I saw my new Cardiologist. At this point, we had ruled out my lungs as the cause for my issues and moved on to my heart.
Cardiology: the branch of medicine that deals with diseases and abnormalities of the heart.
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