The Lipstick Explosion and Spending Last Thurs Morning in the ER

Hey all,

I actually started this blog last Friday night, but didn't get the chance to finish it until tonight after the boys went to bed. So in the first paragraph, the reference to 'tomorrow' is actually last Saturday and goes along chronologically from there :-)

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Long weekend! WooHoo!!!! I'm going to see Tim McGraw & Faith Hill tomorrow WOOHOO!!! Kids start back to school next week .......... W-O-O-H-O-O!!!!! ;-)

It's been another krazy week in the korner. Although it started off fairly uneventful, ball games Tues night, school back pack shopping wed night, by Thurs, it was picking up lol.

On Wed morning, I took a few minutes and fired off a quick email to a popular cosmetic manufacturer. Not something I do on a regular basis, or have ever done before actually lol, but considering their product contributed to a really BAD start to the day, and my 'you pissed me off and I'm going to tell you why' personality, I felt I had to share my opinion with them. In a very nice, professional, calm manner of course ;-)

This particular morning, the boys and I actually got out of the house on time. Some mornings are better than others on this task, so I was actually leaving the house with a smile on my face, instead of the all too often standing by the door saying "let's move it boys!" You've been up for an hour .... what could you POSSIBLY be running down the stairs into the rec room for now?!?!?!? Let's GO!"

So we all jump into the vehicle, and before I start it, I pull out the lipstick and pull down the visor. It's always the last thing I do before I leave the house ... the lipstick :-)

I have to take a minute to embellish on this lipstick at bit ;- ) A couple of months ago, I bought one of those 8hr lasting lipsticks. It came in a small tube, in liquid format which turned to a matte once applied and dried, and there was also a stick of gloss which game with it, to apply once dry if you wanted the 'shiny' look :-) I've tried a few of these 'long wearing' lipsticks before and was never impressed ... until now! This stuff is actually REALLY good! Stays on over 8hrs, didn't come off on my Tim's cups, or on my cigarettes, I ate and the napkins were clean LOL I was so impressed, for the first few days I would pucker up to 'the girls' asking 'have you seen my new lipstick'? :-D It's a girl thing. I found one that WORKED! :-) I was so proud of my new lipstick :-)

So I pull it out, and start to apply the Burgundy/Brown shade. All of a sudden, without looking down, I can see the red liquid spilling out of the bottom of the container, all over my fingers, onto the front of a pair of light blue Capri's, and onto the car seat.

I think if the neighbours weren't already awake, the 'AAARRRRAAAGGGGHHHHH' that erupted from me might have done it :-D So much for getting out of the house in a 'smooth' fashion this morning :-( Ran back into the house, threw the defective lipstick in the garbage and tried to scrub the reddish brown coating from my hands. Not a chance it was coming off! Great! I looked like I had just had a hand in a homicide and I had to go through the day like this. Then I dove into the closet looking for another pair of pants that would match the shirt I was already wearing. Not an easy task with a bright red, light blue and yellow striped t-shirt lol. I opted for the next best thing, red Capri's, and ran back out to the truck.

I had just started it when Alec asked, 'Was that a really expensive lipstick Mom?'
I said, 'Well, not a fortune no, but expensive enough that you wouldn't expect the bottom to just fall off of it and have the contents flow all over you!'.
Then he asked 'But how much did it cost?'
"Almost 8 bucks" I replied.
'Wow! That's still pretty expensive for a liptstick'
That's when Adam just turned the whole morning around. In the rear view mirror, I could see him lean over to his brother and in a most serious, earnest voice said "Oh but Alec ... it LASTS over 8 hours!!!!"
I cracked up :D

It lasted over 8hrs on my hands too!

That night we went back pack shopping when I picked them up after work. While we were out, I noticed the pains that had started in my chest the night before at the ball game were just a little more strong. Enough that I was starting to notice it when I'd breath. Not the same type of pain as when the lungs collapsed, but ... similar.

Thursday morning, it was still there. I don't know if I was just noticing it more, or it was really just a little more prominent. After I dropped the boys off at the sitter's, I was on my way to work, and thinking about the upcoming weekend. I was going to the Country Rocks the Hill aka Tim & Faith concert in Moncton. And I remembered last year, how we had stood crammed like all those little fish in the net in the Finding Nemo movie lol, for over 4 hrs just to see Sugarland 'up close'. They were definitely worth it, and so were many of the acts performing this coming weekend If there was anything remotely wrong with my lung now, it would never stand that abuse in two days time. I had to have this looked at now. So when I reached the 'point of no return' of either turning right and going to work, or going straight and going to the community Emerg ... I went straight.

For those who aren't aware, I've learned to listen to my body's signals that there is something 'wrong'. I've been relatively healthy my whole life. Other than the scrapes, flu's, dental work lol, and occasional bout with pneumonia when I got older. However, 5 yrs ago, I had a double lung surgery, because I had a hereditary lung disease that I didn't know I had (wasn't caused by my smoking, but that certainly didn't help it). It was first discovered when my lung collapsed one day out of the blue. I had no idea what was going on, ignored the pain in my chest and figured I had pulled something and it would go away. I ended up being taken to the ER by ambulance the following morning. My lung had collapsed 90% over night. They put a chest tube in me, sent me home for two days then I had to go back to have it removed.

The second time my lung collapsed (the opposite one this time) was two months later. I was standing at my father's wake which had only started a few minutes earlier, and the lineup was all the way out of the rooms, and leaned over to my now ex and said "OK, don't say anything, don't do anything, but I think my lung just collapsed" I remembered what that pain felt like. You notice when you breath ... that's not normal. You notice it when you move, at it's worst, it's there when you're doing nothing at all. It's a pain you remember when it hits again. Because of the situation, I didn't voice my suspicion to my mom or anyone else, until I got back home two days later. THEN I went to the ER and same procedure that time. Chest tube, home, remove. Difference was, I was able to 'tolerate' it for two days this time, because I had a 'slow leak'. There was a tear in my lung, which was causing the pain, but it wasn't deflating as fast as last time, so it didn't cause me as much discomfort as soon. This time I was sent to a specialist though, and it was determined I had Bullous Lung Disease and needed the double lung surgery. Scheduled for the upcoming Nov and Jan.

The morning I went in for the first surgery, I was laying in pre-op and the nurse had just left after taking my stats and marking my hand with an 'x' on the side they were going to operate on, and all of a sudden I felt it. My lung collapsed. The opposite one of the one they were originally supposed to operate on LOL. I pushed the 'panic button' attached to my bed, and when the nurse came back I said 'I think you may want to bring a portable chest x-ray in here before we start, cause I'm pretty sure my other lung just collapsed.' She was doubtful, but by that time, I knew that pain. Knew what it meant. Sure enough ... they had to operate on the other one that day because it was already 'down' LOL.

When all was said and done, they took 15% of my 'damaged' lungs, and stapled the remainder of them to my chest walls, so they would no longer be able to collapse. Done deal. Heal and move on.

Didn't have a problem with them again. Until this week.

This wasn't the same type of pain. But it was close. More dull than sharp like it had been before and just THERE. But I had been through this (collapsing lungs aka spontaneous pneomothorax) three times now, I knew when I got the to ER, if they said "Decreased breath sounds" it wouldn't be good. Each time I heard those words I'd ended up with a tube in my chest.

There are three types of pneomothorax, I've had the first two, multiple times

Spontaneous pneumothorax - occurs when air escapes from the lung causing it to collapse. This type of pneumothorax occurs for no apparent reason.

Tension pneumothorax - a severe pneumothorax that can be life-threatening. The lung collapse is usually more than 50%. The cause of this type of pneumothorax can be a traumatic event, or a severe spontaneous pneumothorax.

Traumatic pneumothorax - results from a puncture wound to the lung, causing the lung to collapse. This can also be life-threatening.


But when I had the surgeries to 'fix' the problem, it was my understanding that after that, it wouldn't happen again. Guess that was sort of half true ...

So I get to the ER Thurs morning and after triage and hearing 'decreased breath sounds' from the nurse, they sent me for a chest x-ray, and the doc said he couldn't see a tear, didn't mean there wasn't one there, but just that it was very small, then diagnosed me with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), a different lung disease than the other one 5 yrs ago, told me to quit smoking immediately (and not in such a nice way really) and sent me on my way with instruction for pain management. And to follow up with my family doc to see a breathing specialist.

Once again, I know my body. I know when something's wrong. It would only be a matter of time before I was back ... sigh ....

I went to the concert on Sat with the pain still there. - Separate blog to come later. Had a great time! Probably wasn't such a good idea health-wise though ;-)

Could barely get out of bed the next day. Not because I had had too much fun at the concert, or stayed out late, (was in bed just after midnight and slept until just after 10am), the pain was simply getting worse.

This week, I took it relatively easy on Monday, Labour Day, spent the last day of this long weekend at the beach with the boys, not swimming ... just sitting on the blanket watching lol. And then went back again that night for Alec's first ball game of the playoff series.

Adam's game was cancelled, and now has his last game of the season on Tues night, but before we go there, we have to first stop at the fire hall for Basketball registration, and this year, they BOTH get to play :-) Alec competitively, Adam recreational. They both think they're Troy Bolton!! lol (those who have seen HSM2 will know who that is), and I'm thinkin' it's going to be a busy winter!

Then it was much worse again on Tuesday, that day I left work just before lunch and went back to the ER. I had spoken to my family doc first. She had gotten the results of the chest x-ray from Thurs and wanted to follow up with me right away because of the COPD. When she heard the pain and breathing was worse, she said 'come down now' then sent me down to the hospital for another chest x-ray. She had the same concern that I did. Slow leak.

I told the ER doc, 'you know your body and you know when a pain just isn't right. And it shouldn't hurt to breath!' And I remember the pain of the onset of a collapsing lung. I had a fast one, and a slow leak lol. This one was a slow leak. I knew it last Tues. They couldn't see it last Thurs but diagnosed me with COPD and sent me on my way, on this Tues, they said 'small tear'.

So I have a very small tear in the lung, and if it weren't for the staples, it would have collapsed by now. Wants to ... but it can't :-) The pain and symptoms of that are the same, but the up side is that I don't need a chest tube to re-inflate it and keep it up there while it heals. Supposedly now just rest (meaning off work until next Wed), nothing strenuous (like mowing my lawn lol) and pain management by way of 800mg of Ibuprofen 4 times a day will fix it :-) We'll see. I certainly hope so lol. It's a pain in the ass to my life more than anything else lol. Well, that and the whole breathing thing ;-)

As for the quitting smoking, I'm going to seriously try a hypnotist :-) A girl from work has a friend who recommended him. He does 'medical hypnosis. I just got his name today, so I'm going to call my doc tomorrow and ask her to refer me. I also found out tonight about a new pill you can take, twice a day, that will curb the cravings, and if you try to smoke on it, will make you nauseous. Champix. Going to ask her about that too.

Have been trying to go cold turkey, but falling off the wagon alot:-( I've tried the patch and zyban in the past 10yrs, and neither worked ... for me ... so I figure this time I'll try the hypnosis first, then on to Champix:-) If THAT doesn't work ... back to the patch I guess lol.

So there's the update I know some of you have been waiting for ;-) Sorry it took so long to get out, but the fatigue that goes along with this 'lung issue(s)' is incredible! I'll try and get something up about the concert some time over the weekend. Since the boys are with their dad, I'll have LOTS of time to rest. These past couple of days have been semi-restful at best lol. As any mom, single or otherwise knows, there is no such thing as REST in a house with children lol.

Night all!
Time to throw a load of laundry in the dryer and take this butt to bed ... again lol.

K