Hospital Admission and Pneumonia Diagnosis at 28 Years Old (Part 2)

On Sunday 8th September, I went to A+E really struggling to breathe and catch my breath. I'd been poorly for a while but just about making it through the days, but over the last few days it had gotten worse and worse and then suddenly peaked. I'd originally called for an ambulance, but then I got called back to say that there was going to be a 2 hour wait so I decided to get a taxi instead. 

When I got to A+E, I was really struggling and crying and scared. I had to register at reception and was shocked they made me sit down and wait. My initial observations were through the roof: oxygen saturations 89%, heart rate 159bpm, respirations 35. My blood pressure and temperature were normal throughout. 

They did a first set of observations in the first 10 minutes and then took me to a separate area to be assessed. The observations weren't improving so then I moved somewhere else and very quickly had an ECG done, a cannula inserted and bloods taken, including 2 sets of 2 cultures to grow infections. The ECG ultimately showed a normal heart trace but with sinus tachycardia. 

I then got moved to another area whilst waiting for a bed space and asked the nurse at what point they would give me oxygen. I was still struggling and my sats had been 89 - 92% the entire duration. She did a set of observations again and my sats were once again 89% so she started me on oxygen at 1L. I was then moved to a bed space and saw the loveliest doctor. She diagnosed me with a double ear infection saying there was redness and swelling but no ear wax and the ear drums were intact and not perforated. 

She said she heard crackles and wheezing on both lungs, but predominantly on the right hand side. I hadn't noticed any wheezing myself, but I also hadn't done very much physical activity as I was taking it relatively easy. I then waited for a chest x-ray, which didn't take too long. It showed areas of infection, and they started me on IV antibiotics, but they also wanted to rule out a pulmonary embolism with a CTPA. 

I ended up having the CT pulmonary angiogram a few hours later and it was truly awful. They inject a contrast agent dye to see if there are any obstructions in the pulmonary arteries, to diagnose pulmonary embolism. It took forever to take the pictures because they have to set the machine up without the dye the first time, then they have to flush it and then insert the dye. The first time the dye was inserted it hurt so badly so they ended up repositioning the cannula and pulling it out a bit. The next time hurt almost as badly, but I tried so hard to stay still. Unfortunately, they said the pressure was too high so I then had to have it done again with the dye, which thankfully worked. None of the other medications I had particularly hurt so one of the nurses suggested I might be somewhat allergic to the dye, which is something to consider in the future. Luckily, I didn't have a PE and so I stayed on oxygen overnight in A+E awaiting a ward bed. 

It wasn't until the next day when I was seen by one of the respiratory consultants that I was told I actually had Bilateral Community Aquired Pneumonia. He said the increased respiration rate made it difficult to see to none specialists, but that it was very clear to him.