Up, Up, And E.Coli

Roughly 5 years ago I went on a road trip with my friends to Baltimore for an Anime Convention called Otakon. It was a blast. Though, before that, I had a Doctor's Appointment. Was the basic crap, do my PFTs(Pulmonary Function Tests), give a phlegm sample, talk to a Doctor and Nurse for 10 mins, and then go on my marry way. That was about 2 weeks before I left for my road trip.

So, I go on this 3 day road trip. Was beyond a blast. My two friends, Will, James, and myself piled into my Mom's old truck drove. During the first 8 hours, Will was driving and I was taking mini naps in the back seat. When my turn came around to drive I was tired as hell and still needed a few minutes to wake up. We pull into a Gas station, piss, get food, ect. We finally finish and I get in the drivers seat and head out of the Parking Lot. I start turning into oncoming traffic and ask "Am I in the right Lane?". Again, I was tired and still not 100% yet. They all respond with "Yeah.....NO!" and I quickly turn back into the correct lane and avoid killing us.

I'll go into the rest of that trip another time. I just wanted to share that story before I went on.

Anywho.... after we came back from Baltimore, my Mother informs me that in a few weeks we'll be going to Kelowna, BC, to see my Uncle graduate his RN thingy and finally become a Nurse. I didn't get a single phone call from the hospital about my phlegm sample so I figure everything is okay. The day comes around for us to leave and my Mother, my Brother Jason, and myself head to the Airport, clear security, all that jazz.

We get up into the Air and about 20 mins in, I start to feel shitty. A little dizzy and ready to vomit. I go into the Bathroom and proceed to do so. The entire flight was me running in and out of the bathroom throwing up over and over. Was one of the worst plane rides I've ever been on.

Finally land, my Uncle Joe(the one who just got his RN thingy) picked us up at the Airport and I asked to be driven to his place as fast as possible because I just kept feeling worse.

About 2 or 3 days ago by, I barely ate a thing, and anytime I did eat, I threw it up moments later. My breathing was becoming heavy, hard, and painful. I was coughing up so much phlegm, and could barely stand long enough to go to the bathroom without feeling horribly dizzy.

Finally, I get my Mom to take me to the Hospital. I don't remember much but I do remember sitting in Emerg on Oxygen. I don't know how long I waited before seeing anyone. I think we waited maybe 30 minutes or so.

After that, it's a bit of a blur. I was given an I.V. and that's really all I remember for a few days. The next thing I remember after that is waking up and feeling 1000 times better, I was able to breath a little more, and I even tried doing an exercise Bike, couldn't last long. I managed to do about 10 minutes, if that.

The next two weeks was a lot of me trying my hardest to get my lungs back into shape and gain the weight I lost back. As it turned out, I had lost some 20 pounds from those few days of not eating and it was a nightmare trying to get that weight back in the Hospital there. While it was a nice hospital, the rooms were very large so space wasn't an issue, and the view was just beautiful. Every morning I'd look outside and I'd see clouds coming off the Mountains and it looked like they were all on fire and the clouds were the smoke coming off. Was so cool.

Me, being the curious guy I am, asked many times what was wrong with my lungs that flared up so quickly and made me feel so shitty. Apparently, I had E.Coli in my lungs and the recirculated Air in the Plane was like lighting the Wick to a stick of Dynamite. After some time in that plane, it was an explosion of bad things in my body.  

So, the Hospital treats me great, probably the best I've ever been treated at a Hospital. They did their best to try and get me the food I needed but they were unable to get me the 100% food needed. The Hospital I was at just had a very basic kitchen for patients and so they were unable to feed someone like me properly. I'd say I'd get about 40% of my daily food intact from that Hospital and I had my mom cover the other 60% in take out or food she cooked at my uncles.

Near the end of those two weeks I still wasn't healthy enough to go back home or be discharged and I was trying to feel discouraged. I had no friends there, my Brother decided to fly home early so he could throw parties while my mom was with me making sure I had my needs taken care of.

Without that encouragement I'd get from friends both in Hospital and out, I started to feel scared. I asked many times if there was a way that I could fly home and finish my Hospital stay. I really enjoyed being at the Hospital in Kelowna but it was so unfamiliar to me. After a few days of talking to various people to set it up. My flight home was set. I couldn't take a Helicopter from the Hospital back to Winnipeg, sadly. They just discharged me from there, informed the Hospital in Winnipeg that I'd be coming, gave my mom my chart, and many face masks.

Get to the Airport, get on the Plane, I had my mom awesomely inform all the really hot flight attendants that I was this sick kid with special needs, and we were off.

Had some fun chats with the people on the Plane while wearing a face mask. A lot of people thought I had some super contagious bug and that was why I required the face mask and crap. I cleared that crap up pretty quickly.

We land, cab to the Hospital, I get readmitted, and restart my care there. Was another 2 weeks before I was healthy enough by their standards to go home. I had asked and raged numerous times about how the fuck I had E.Coli in my lungs and no one bothered to fucking inform me about it. I'd just get some bullshit about how they tried to call me but they couldn't get ahold of me which was such a load of crap. Back then, when a Doctor called my House, it was like being told there was a murderer on the lose in our block. That shit was never "Oh, I'll tell Randy, bye" type stuff.

This was the second time I considered filling a lawsuit against the Hospital but logic always got the better of me. "Best not to piss off the few specialists you have in this city".

So, ya, that's the story of that. More to come in two weeks. I enjoy writing these and I might even try posts about non-medical related stuff. I've yet to see where I want to take this blog. While I do have many more medical stories, one day I will run out and will either leave the blog or break out into something else.