ICU Anyone

We had a very interesting past week to say the least. Nate was having a hard time breathing on Saturday evening and I was such a good wife when he started wigging out I told him if he would calm down and relax he may be able to breathe better and he really needs to wait until Urgent Care opens Sunday morning because I still haven't paid off Abigail's last emergency room visit (he insisted on) for hand, foot, and mouth! In my defense, he didn't seem that bad, he always gets a chest cold twice a year every year since I have known him. Anyway about 7 am on Sunday he called to see when urgent care opened and it wasn't until 10:00 am, he said he couldn't wait any longer I said I couldn't handle the whining anymore I was tired and "you know I can't take you with 3 little kids at home right?". He said yeah and he left for the ER. I got all 3 kids up and ready for church, left to go to church, and when I still hadn't heard from him I text him. I thought this would be a quick trip and by the time church was over he would be to. Boy was I wrong. He told me that after an hour of solid steroids and oxygen his airway was not opening so they were going to take him to the ICU FOR THE DAY. Now I was scared and felt bad about my comments all night. I finished out church with the kids, called the parents, got a babysitter for the kids, and met him at the ICU. Things were pretty bad, they wanted to put a tube down his throat and put him on a ventilator instead of the by pap machine, but Nate was stubborn and kept saying no. I then found out from the nurse (Doug) that Nate had passed out when he reached his truck and when he came to he called 911 and told the dispatch person he was going 60mph running red lights and headed to the ER. She of course told him to pull over and wait for an ambulance, Nate didn't agree. He told her what route he was going and if he passed out she could send the ambulance and trace his cell phone number. (And people think I'm stubborn huh?). All the nurses couldn't believe his call the the dispatch and when he was released to the 5th floor the nurses knew about his incident. The day in ICU turned into 3 days in ICU and 1 day in a regular room in the hospital and a bucket full of new pills and asthma meds later we are 1 wk released and doing well. They decided he had bronchitis with a chest infection (would have turned to pneumonia, but his airway closed so quickly no liquid could get in, and then for some odd reason he had an asthma attack. He hasn't had an asthma attack in 12 years. I appreciate all the great family and friends that called in with their support, came and visited Nate, and helped with the kids so I could spend some time with Nate. Events like this make you really take a deep look at what's important in life. Thank heavens he is doing better. It's nice to have an uncle who works at the hospital to keep a close eye on family members and make sure you know exactly what is going on. The staff was wonderful (even the evil night nurse)!! What's even better is we got it all in before the end of the year so between Nate and Andrew we have reached our deductible and our max out of pocket! This 4 day trip only cost me $320. Now we have a sleep apnea test tonight which should be free and hopefully the machine I'm assuming he needs will be covered and I'm ready to start a new deductible in a week. Man MEN are expensive!!!!