Lucky me

My knee had fully recovered and I was ready to play Fall soccer. I was pretty excited. I was feeling good and felt in pretty good shape. I would not say I was in the best shape in my life but I was one of the most fit guys on the team. Probably in the top 5.

So the game started as normal. I was pressuring the defense and the opposing defender was clearing the ball when I stuck out my foot and blocked the ball. After I blocked the ball, the defender had a little bit of extra curricular follow through and kicked me in the chest and down I went, again. It was quite a painful blow to my chest. I would say the pain was a 7 or 8. I was near the sideline so I rolled myself off the field so the game could continue. I sat on the sideline for a while holding my chest. Melissa was at the game and after sitting with me for a few minutes we decided I better go to the doctor. So where did we go. Patients First of course.

Melissa drove me to Patients First where the doctor ordered an X-Ray. Then things started happening that were different than I had experienced before. The attitude and demeanor of nurses and doctors changed. They called me an ambulance.

I was still not totally aware of why I needed an ambulance but I would learn in the back of that ambulance. The EMT in the back of the ambulance asked me what hospital I wanted to go to. I mentioned the nearest hospital I knew about but they decided that was not good enough. So they took me to MCV which has an advanced trauma center. While we barreled down I95 the EMT put an IV into my arm an started a drip of something. And then she said, "Do you know what is going on here?" I guess I shook my head or said "not really" because then she told me. She said, "Well, you have a hole in your lung and air is escaping into your chest cavity. As the air enters in the chest cavity, it will push on your organs including your heart and eventually you will die."

Well that sounded just peachy. I was still in a great deal of pain but I did not feel like I was going to die. She also said, "I might have to stick a hole in your chest." Great, I was feeling better already. NOT!

I arrived at the emergency room and was wheeled past all the poor souls who had walked into the emergency room and who were waiting to be seen by a doctor. I was going straight to the back. I did not pass go and I did not collect $200. Once I got to the back they took all my vitals and hooked me up to an oxygen monitor which is a little sensor they attach to your thumb. The "doctors" examined me and ordered another chest X-Ray. They asked me all sort of questions and I dutifully answered them. Then I sat for a while with nothing happening. I was told a specialist was being called in. Then another "doctor" came in and examined me and asked more questions and then I sat some more.

I have to explain why I put quotes around the word doctor. MCV is a teaching hospital. So while they call everyone doctor, many of these doctors are actually still somewhere in the learning process. Reminds me of a joke. What do you call a medical student who graduates last in his class? Doctor.

So I guess everyone was getting a chance to learn. Plus I think the doctors were confused. They said I had a collapsed lung but I did not have any broken ribs. Plus I was in great shape so my oxygen sensor was showing a high percentage. One lung was enough for sitting on a gurny I guess. This went on for a while. More doctors, more sitting around.

Finally after about 8 hours of sitting there in pain, the doctors suddenly decided I needed to have a chest tube put in immediately. So with no anesthetic they made the incision, jammed in the rib spreaders, and inserted the chest tube. Now this really hurt. I now knew for sure what a pain level of 10 feels like. And I remember the conversation the doctors were having while sewing the tube into me. The one guy was coaching the other guy. "No, you have to loop it up higher. There you go." I half expected them to be looking at the manual as they did the procedure.

After this fun little procedure I was admitted. Have you ever seen those signs around hospitals that read, "Quiet. Hospital Zone." Why bother. They are so noisy on the inside. The worst are the night nurses. While everyone else is trying to sleep which is often difficult because of the uncomfortable conditions (i.e. chest tube sticking out of your body hooked up to suction), the nurses are just carrying on like they are at an outdoor summer picnic.

During the night, when I finally did fall asleep, I would be woken up by a nurse to give me a shot in my stomach. The shots were to prevent blood clots since I was just lying around doing nothing which increasea the chance of clotting. I will never forget these shots. The nurses were instructed to give me the shots in the fatty part of my stomach. Well guess what? I weighed about 140 and did not really have any belly fat. And they always had to say something like "Not much here to work with here" or something light and witty. It got old pretty fast. And they would always say something like, "Ok this won't hurt. It will feel just like a little bee sting." Ok so a bee sting is not the most painful thing in the world but why don't they just say, "this is going to sting a little." I don't like bee stings. Why would they think I would not mind a bee sting?

This all went on for 11 days. Eleven days at MCV for a kick in the chest during an adult amateur soccer game. Who would have guessed. This was a freak accident of course but does show you that soccer can be dangerous. But fun.

After about day 9 in the hospital, I finally started healing up. The treatment for a collapsed lung is to vent the air that escapes from the lung into the chest cavity with a chest tube and suction. The lungs then heal on their own. My lungs were not healing because I had a terrible cold going into the whole ordeal with an accompanying deep cough. The doctors would tell me to cough to see if there was any air in the tube coming out of my chest. Of course with my heavy cough, there was always air in the tube. Finally one day, the actual head trauma doctor (the HIIC-Head Indian In Charge) came in and said, "no more coughing." After that day I started healing.

On my 10th day, the night before I was to get out, Hurricane Isabel struck the Richmond area. Melissa was at the hospital that night and left to go home a little on the late side. She barely made it home in the storm. And when she got home the power was already out. On my discharge day, I went home to no power and a very messy yard. Everyone in the neighborhood was outside cleaning up and accessing damage. I shuffled into the house and left the yard to nature.

After one night in the house with no power, I was just not in the mood. I called my parents in NOVA to see if they had power. They did. Melissa and I drove up there for a few days while I recovered. Having no power is very inconvenient but it was especially not convenient for me since I was so weak and really needed some creature comforts at that point.

We did come back to Richmond after a couple of days. Our power was out for a total of 13 days. It was really a drag at the time. Years later I would go to New Orleans for a Katrina relief trip. I thought I had it bad but compared to those folks, I had it made in the shade.

Before I finish this installment I have to explain the title of this blog. You might not consider me to be lucky. After all, I had just recovered from a knee injury when I got the blow to the chest. But as always, I had Melissa by my side. Melissa always took care of me in my time of need. She came to the hospital every day, spent lots of time with me there, cleaned up the room, brought me food, brought me her walkman and batteries. Even today, she continues to help me through difficult times. Melissa has always made the tough times bearable and the fun times even more fun. I can't imagine life without her. We have built a great marriage based on mutual trust, respect and love. I want to thank her for all the support she has given me in everything I do good or bad. Melissa is my soul mate and I love her dearly.