seaturtle08
"On day 4 of a hospital stay. I'm still maintaining; my breathing is not better and no worse than it was on Saturday. I'm really fighting the system this time though- I got a PA who refuses to call in a pulmonology consult because I'm not wheezing (nope, rarely do, I get diminished breath sounds) and my pulse ox is generally stable (yep, my lungs over oxygenate- it won't drop until I'm in impending respiratory failure). I'm tired of fighting to breath and fighting for treatment, so I'm working with a patient liaison now. "
Glad to hear that you are working with the patient liaison seaturtle08. No one will look out for you like you. Keep us posted on how you are doing. Richard (Asthma.net Team)
I'm home. My breathing still sucks, but the anxiety (which the oh so helpful Doctor decided was the sole cause of my "perceived" shortness of breath) is already much much better since I left the hospital. Yes, I know that my anxiety can become an issue when I'm in the hospital (I was diagnosed with some level of PTSD the last time I was in the ICU), but if they had called the pulmonologist and treated the asthma at the beginning, I wouldn't have continued to been so short of breath, I wouldn't have gotten so anxious, and I would have probably been home Monday morning. My biggest fear right now is that all of this is now in my chart and I'm afraid I won't be taken seriously and treated appropriatey the next time I end up in the hospital. I live in a more rural area and this is the only hospital with an ICU and pulmonologists on staff.
I'm glad you are home and doing better (a least on the anxiety front). I saw Lyn's response to your request for some recommendations on dealing with staff reluctant to listen and it sounded like great information (she is one of our staff experts). I have seen others in the community comment that having information written up or in their phone that explains how they present can be helpful. Hopefully if the staff see the information from a medical professional, they will move straight to the treatment phase. Wishing you the best. Richard (Asthma.net Team)