That was a close call..... collapsed lung
Discussion
I've been having sharp pains in my left hand side when walking, and a clicking noise when I layed down.
By chance got an emergency doctor's appointment today, sent to the hospital for chest Xrays and a blood test. 10 minutes later I'm sent to A&E to be told I've got a collapsed lung
Had a load of air sucked out through a tube in my chest, which got rid of most of it. The doctor wanted me to stay for 48 hours but the consultant said I could go home on the condition that if it started again I go straight back to A&E immediately.
Apparently if I'd left it much longer the other one could have collapsed too and I'd have been in BIG trouble
I've just got back now, big patch on my chest, fair bit of blood and stuff and very sore
Apparently it can spontaneously happen to young, tall, thin men
Going to take it pretty easy for a bit...
By chance got an emergency doctor's appointment today, sent to the hospital for chest Xrays and a blood test. 10 minutes later I'm sent to A&E to be told I've got a collapsed lung
Had a load of air sucked out through a tube in my chest, which got rid of most of it. The doctor wanted me to stay for 48 hours but the consultant said I could go home on the condition that if it started again I go straight back to A&E immediately.
Apparently if I'd left it much longer the other one could have collapsed too and I'd have been in BIG trouble
I've just got back now, big patch on my chest, fair bit of blood and stuff and very sore
Apparently it can spontaneously happen to young, tall, thin men
Going to take it pretty easy for a bit...
I was supposed to be going to a uni xmas party tonight, I even had my costume ready
www.muncher.org.uk/santa.jpg
www.muncher.org.uk/santa.jpg
gemini said:
Apparently it can spontaneously happen to young, tall, thin men
Im ok then
Glad youre alright now - frightening!
All the more so seeing as I wasn't going to go to the doctors until next week and only could because my tutorial this morning was cancelled because the tutor had flu!
I'm only 5'9".
They've said go back in a week, but then gave me an appointment for the 23rd. I'm going to change that, as if it isn't fixed I don't want to be in there over Xmas.
I think there's something about me and unusual injuries
m8 dropped a broken bottle on my hand - 3 stitches
same m8 drops my football boot on my head - eyebrow glued back together
another m8 kicked me in the face playing football in his front room - broken nose
another m8 "rock bottoms me" - off to hospital on a spinal board
I'm still pretty sore, the worst thing is not knowing if it's fixed properly and if it could happen again
They've said go back in a week, but then gave me an appointment for the 23rd. I'm going to change that, as if it isn't fixed I don't want to be in there over Xmas.
I think there's something about me and unusual injuries
m8 dropped a broken bottle on my hand - 3 stitches
same m8 drops my football boot on my head - eyebrow glued back together
another m8 kicked me in the face playing football in his front room - broken nose
another m8 "rock bottoms me" - off to hospital on a spinal board
I'm still pretty sore, the worst thing is not knowing if it's fixed properly and if it could happen again
m8s coming round later too. It's now dawning on me that it probably started over 2 months ago, I had similar chest pains and a rattly chest 11 weeks ago in a football trial 
:claP: 
Bit of an update ladies, gentlemen and mungo 
Went back to A&E for another X-Ray, the lung has reinflated well and seems OK. I can't do anything involving exercise or pressure changes for a month, so that rules out football
I still keep getting some twinges which is a bit scary though
The bad news however is if it happens again, I'll have to have surgery on both lungs as a precaution
Went back to A&E for another X-Ray, the lung has reinflated well and seems OK. I can't do anything involving exercise or pressure changes for a month, so that rules out football
I still keep getting some twinges which is a bit scary though
The bad news however is if it happens again, I'll have to have surgery on both lungs as a precaution
Just to continue this, (unfortunately!) the problem is back again 
On monday of last week I was at work and I started to get some pain down my side, I put it down to sitting awkwardly at my desk, but I went out for a walk over lunch, still in quite a lot of discomfort.
It gradually faded and but persisted for slightly over the next few days, the familiar bubbling sensation was back (not all that uncommon over as it gets colder in the autumn for some reason) but on wednesday to thursday I started getting shoulder and arm pain on the 20 minute walk back to Liverpool St.
So on friday morning I decided to get it checked out, walked into A&E and told the lady on the counter what the problem was, before I even had a chance to sit down I was called through, they checked my vitals and an alarm started going off so I was marched straight round the back for an ECG, which was fine and then a quick chest X-ray, within minutes of which I was in the resus unit :/
The xrays showed that my lung was collapsed by 25%, this time from the bottom, but because of the position the A&E medics were not happy to put a drain in, so I was admitted to a respiratory ward.
It was the same ward I had been admitted to the first time around and spent a week there, it was truly grim, seemed poorly staffed, cramped and in a bed room with 6 others who all looked like they were about to croak their last breath. Now in Ipswich, there is only one "visiting" thoracic consultant who only visits 1 day a week and spends the rest of his time in Norwich, along with my surgeon who carried my procedure back in 2004. I really did not want to be there...
So we had a discussion and I said that as I didn't actually feel that bad, could I go home for the weekend and see if some of the air re-absorbs on its own (it should do at a rate of around 1% per day). They said it probably wouldn't make enough of a difference but they were happy to let me go and see if it did improve.
So I'm now back home with an outpatients appointment tomorrow, where they could either put a drain in here, allow me to go to Norwich for it or possibly put a drain in and allow me to rest at home and treat me as an outpatient, which I understand is possible.
It's not what I really wanted given I started my training contract 3 weeks ago
On monday of last week I was at work and I started to get some pain down my side, I put it down to sitting awkwardly at my desk, but I went out for a walk over lunch, still in quite a lot of discomfort.
It gradually faded and but persisted for slightly over the next few days, the familiar bubbling sensation was back (not all that uncommon over as it gets colder in the autumn for some reason) but on wednesday to thursday I started getting shoulder and arm pain on the 20 minute walk back to Liverpool St.
So on friday morning I decided to get it checked out, walked into A&E and told the lady on the counter what the problem was, before I even had a chance to sit down I was called through, they checked my vitals and an alarm started going off so I was marched straight round the back for an ECG, which was fine and then a quick chest X-ray, within minutes of which I was in the resus unit :/
The xrays showed that my lung was collapsed by 25%, this time from the bottom, but because of the position the A&E medics were not happy to put a drain in, so I was admitted to a respiratory ward.
It was the same ward I had been admitted to the first time around and spent a week there, it was truly grim, seemed poorly staffed, cramped and in a bed room with 6 others who all looked like they were about to croak their last breath. Now in Ipswich, there is only one "visiting" thoracic consultant who only visits 1 day a week and spends the rest of his time in Norwich, along with my surgeon who carried my procedure back in 2004. I really did not want to be there...
So we had a discussion and I said that as I didn't actually feel that bad, could I go home for the weekend and see if some of the air re-absorbs on its own (it should do at a rate of around 1% per day). They said it probably wouldn't make enough of a difference but they were happy to let me go and see if it did improve.
So I'm now back home with an outpatients appointment tomorrow, where they could either put a drain in here, allow me to go to Norwich for it or possibly put a drain in and allow me to rest at home and treat me as an outpatient, which I understand is possible.
It's not what I really wanted given I started my training contract 3 weeks ago
Some relatively good news, the X-ray today showed that it has not got any worse, although it was a little unclear compared to the last one, so the consultant and surgeon agreed that I wouldn't need to be admitted at the moment.
They said that as it will improve at around 1% per day it will take around another 3 weeks to fully heal but that providing I feel up to it I can go back to work sooner than that as long as I take things easy. They suggested I rest for the moment as I still have quite a large collapse and I am struggling if I try to walk more than 100 yards but this should improve.
They've said that if it doesn't fully improve, or happens again they will need to consider surgery, which would be more invasive than last time. I've got an appointment for another X-ray in a couple of weeks.
They said that as it will improve at around 1% per day it will take around another 3 weeks to fully heal but that providing I feel up to it I can go back to work sooner than that as long as I take things easy. They suggested I rest for the moment as I still have quite a large collapse and I am struggling if I try to walk more than 100 yards but this should improve.
They've said that if it doesn't fully improve, or happens again they will need to consider surgery, which would be more invasive than last time. I've got an appointment for another X-ray in a couple of weeks.
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