A (less-than)Super Bowl Sunday (updated)

Callie and I had an exciting Super Bowl Sunday, and didn’t even manage to watch any of the big football game.

As most of the hardcore readers here are aware, Callie is an asthmatic, and so it’s always tricky when she comes down with any kind of respiratory infection or cold.

Like she did on Friday.

Usually, she immediately sees her asthma specialist, who tends to treat preventively and aggressively.

Except this was late Friday, so no go.

By Sunday morning, her lungs were closing and the doctor on call at her asthma clinic advised to get to St. Lukes.

I was going to transport, but her lungs started closing so badly that she wanted 911. Ambulance arrived in six minutes (really outstanding), they got things under control, but headed to St. Joseph’s (closer than St. Lukes — which is good, but St. Luke’s is renowned for their cardio/pulmonary expertise).

After a few hours of treatment, things seemed under control and back home we went with some prednisone and antibiotics.

And a few hours later, it was back to the same ER with closing lungs — me driving like a lunatic this time (it takes a little over two minutes from our place to St. Josephs if you take red lights as advisory instead of obligatory).

Different ER doc this time, who seemed much more experienced and knowledgeable. Again, they seemed to get things under control after a few hours, and he gave us the choice of heading home or hanging around for more observation. Callie opted for home, and he told us to get back immediately if there was any sign of trouble.

Well, a few hours later, Callie’s lungs closed worse than ever. We booked it back over to St. Joseph’s, the good ER doc was there and got a team really moving, and again they got the situation under control. Thankfully, there was no need for intubation, but we were fast approaching that point. Needless to say, we were admitted a little after midnight last night.

Callie’s doing much better this evening after fairly regular breathing treatments, but we’re spending another night here. It is a fairly comfortable hospital for visitors — I slept relatively well on a bench in the room last night.

It’s handy that it’s only five minutes (when in non-emergency, red-light obeying mode) from home, as I’ve been able to shuttle stuff back and forth and take care of the dog. St. Luke’s probably would have been better in terms of their expertise in handling asthma cases, but then again, another five or ten minutes might have made intubating necessary, something anyone obviously wants to avoid.

The people here have all been super nice, aside from the grouchy registration clerks at the ER desk. Those bitchy women are the public face of Christus St. Joseph in many ways, and it is not a good public face. Anyway, that’s been the only negative experience really. Well, you know, aside from Callie’s needing to be here at all.

UPDATE (02-07-2007): Callie was discharged from the hospital yesterday. After a followup visit with her asthma specialist, she’s now officially on the mend. A few days of rest (and steroid doses) and the lungs ought to start getting back to normal. Thanks to all the well-wishers and emailers! The good vibes are most appreciated.