Last week, when Ellie was still staying with me, my cold spread to my lungs and turned into "suspected pneumonia" and an asthmatic's worst nightmare. One evening, I felt like my body was trying to cough up my internal organs; I could barely breathe and I had a hacking cough which left me feeling light-headed and woozy.
Ellie and I went for a walk to the late opening pharmacy to buy some cough medecine, but all we could find was some herbal syrup made with belladonna and arnica. We got this home and I practically drank the stuff but it didn't do any good, except make me quite hyper! Not the best idea when you are already struggling for breath, but as I understand it, fairly amusing for onlookers :op
After realising that there was no way I would get any sleep that night with such difficulty breathing, with the help of some worried parents on the other end of a microphone, we found a hospital near the Notre Dame and Ellie offered to take me there. I hate hospitals and doctors so I was pretty worried, but by the time we had reached the place, I was so drowsy from lack of oxygen that I felt extemely drunk and was almost falling asleep on my feet. Still, we got in to the building and I managed to give the woman at the reception desk my passport and she gestured for us to wait in the seating area. I poked Ellie and told her not to sit down because every bench in the waiting room had a dopey homeless/drunk/ill person collapsed on it!
Eventually we were called into a small room where my blood pressure was taken and I had to do the asthma "blow test". This involves you puffing into a little cardboard tubey thing and it measures how strong your breath is. Mine should be about 450-475 when I'm healthy, but it was just under 200 when they tested me. The nurse took me into the main hospital building and told me that Ellie would have to wait outside til I was settled. Of course, being afraid of this kind of thing, I was terrified by the thought that I'd have to go through it all alone!
After waiting (next to a guarding policeman!) outside a ward-room, I was led into a small room filled with all kinds of equipment and with 3 beds in it, 2 of which were occupied by very still patients. . .
I was shaking as they asked me to sit on the bed and take off my clothes. Luckily, they just meant take off my hoody, but I think if they had meant more than that I'd have run back to the apartment! They gave me a gown to wear and asked me to lie back. Then a series of tests and needles were inflicted on me causing me to sit there with frightened tears streaming down my face. Fun night out.
First they took some blood from an artery on my right wrist; later on they took more blood from the vein in the crook of my right arm:
They inserted an IV drip into my left forearm which got taped in place with some weird clingfilmy stuff and they told me the drip was feeding me anti-inflammatory drugs to calm down my lungs.
They put some little liqui-tabs of chemicals into a little nebuliser-steamer and attached a mask connected to that, to me:
All in all, I felt like a pincushion and was feeling very sorry for myself despite the male nurse being very kind to me and trying to make me laugh. I kept pestering them throughout these tests if they would let my friend come in yet, and finally after they had finished prodding me with sharp things, they let Ellie come and sit beside me.
And after 3 hours, they finally allowed us to go home (this time we caught a taxi!) but I was obviously still not feeling great.
I spent the next couple of days lying in bed with Ellie waiting on me; she was an absolute angel, feeding me and keeping me hydrated whilst I should have been showing her the sights of Paris. However, THAT is why I have not posted for a while; because I could not even sit at the computer very long before I needed to go and lie down again :o( Pathetic.
On the last full day of Ellie's visit, I forced myself to get out of bed and I took her to the Picasso museum which is only a short walk away from our place. It was quite interesting in there: although I can't say Picasso is my favourtie artist, it was intriguing to see how some of his most famous works had progressed through numerous sketches and rough copies!
Speaking of artists, when I took Ellie to CDG airport to wave her off, we noticed that someone had, very artistically, decorated the ladies' loos. . .
Twas a sad day on Friday though as I had to say goodbye to my best friend, again, as she disappeared back to England without me :o( We took a few last pictures before I plonked Ellie on a plane and I toddled off back to my apartment, alone.
I shall miss my nutter :o(
This coming week should bring some news about my course as last week was the last of the French refresher lessons. Can't wait to get my modules sorted! Will let you know how it goes soon. xxxx
2 comments:
Aww hunny, you really seem like you've been through the wars :(
Hope you're feeling much better now! xxxxx
Jaune est so U.
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