Emergency care saved my life

Learn to read symptoms not only as problems to be overcome but as messages to be heeded.

~ Gabor Maté, MD

It’s been a tough two weeks. My husband and I were exposed to a virus going around childcare facilities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the first week of December.

We, mostly me, have been sick since then. I had manageable days, impossible days, and one day when I came to the conclusion that I needed emergency care. — This time, I couldn’t heal myself.

I called TeleHealth Ontario, described my symptoms and the nurse urged me to go to the hospital. My husband drove me to the Emergency Department. Apparently, it was VERY busy that evening. The triage nurse said someone would soon take my blood pressure and, much to my surprise, they did.

Very quickly, I was assessed and given a bed — a limited resource—that night. Health professionals were going out of their way to look after me. I was put on a saline drip and oxygen, got bloodwork done and a chest x-ray all within an hour of arriving.

Because the bloodwork showed a high d-dimer, a clotting marker, I also got a CT scan to rule out pulmonary embolism (clotting in the lungs). I had never been scanned before.

The scan found double lung pneumonia. I was given a cocktail drip of multiple antibiotics, a puffer and more antibiotics to take home. I was asked to monitor my oxygen saturation levels in tissue (done with a finger oximeter) and to return to the hospital immediately if they went under 92.

I was home by 4:00 am Thursday morning.

Closing thoughts

When we have been prevented from learning how to say no, our bodies may end up saying it for us.

~ Gabor Maté, MD

Clearly, I didn’t get sick overnight.

My body had been crying out for help for months and I chose to ignore it. Finally, it said NO. It shut me down.

It will be a quiet, healing, and peaceful holiday season for us.

I feel heartfelt gratitude for the emergency care I got.

Lesson learned - prevention is key as we age. I will do what it takes to rebuild my immune system, after decimating it.