GOD NEVER STOPS PROVIDING ME WITH THOSE LITTLE MIRACLES

Sunday evening, April 23rd, as I was laying down to sleep, UGH, there was that old familiar feeling—chest pain.  It feels as if someone is sitting on your chest so it’s a little hard to breathe.  Maybe you know what I am talking about if you have ever had a bad bout of pneumonia and had to sleep in a recliner like I did.  I remember that ugly, orange-flowered recliner.  My former mother-in-law had reupholstered it so that it looked brand new when she passed it down to my first husband and me.  It was white with large orange flowers (not my favorite color really) and it looked hideous to me because of course, it could not match anything that I have ever seen before in my life, but it was my best friend for those many nights that I could not lay flat on the bed.

But the familiarity of this pain had a more recent tone to it because it had only been since the beginning of March that my chest pain—that constant aggravating symptom of my lung cancer since Thanksgiving Day of 2022—had finally faded.  I remember how the pain seemingly and miraculously went away after I met with my cardiologist on March 7th.  He reassured me then that I had not been experiencing any heart attacks during that time.  Whew! I tell you. I don’t know what it is about the heart that just scares me so much.

“Alright”, I began thinking as I was trying to figure out what to do about this old familiar feeling, “so it’s not a heart attack.  I have lung cancer and the tumor, though much smaller, is still in my left lung.  I have also suffered many times from this familiar feeling when I have strained my intercostal muscles like I just did in January.  So, okay that’s it.  I must have strained myself again, so I just need a little rest with a heating pad.”

I stayed home from work on Monday, but after feeling better, I worked my 5-hour shift on Tuesday.  Tuesday evening, I experienced a little pain and a lot of tiredness.  I figured it is because I worked for 5 hours. Currently, I don’t work Wednesdays, so I thought that all was good. 

I saw my Oncology Nurse Practitioner the next day and had my good friend, Jennifer Lambert, come over for about an hour to help me with sorting through my clothes.  So that Wednesday, the chest pain was basically coming and going, but overall, I felt good, so I went into work Thursday afternoon.

Unfortunately, 2 hours into my shift, my chest pain began to increase to a point that it became a bit unbearable.  As I was leaving to go home, I got stuck behind a red light for a long time and all I could focus on was that pain.  “I don’t think that a little rest and the heating pad will do much for it this time.  It probably is my intercostal muscles again.  I need to see a doctor and maybe get some Ibuprofen to help me.”  I also thought “Well, I am taking Tagrisso, and I have been told that it could affect my heart.  I don’t think it is a heart attack, but I need to get my heart checked out just in case.”

When I went to Urgent Care, the doctor just sent me to the emergency room (ER).

I have known since my heart failure in 2009 that all my EKG readings will always be abnormal, but I had no idea that a cardiologist is essentially the only one who can read my EKG reports to determine if I am having a heart attack.

So, when I arrived in the ER, after the triage nurse had come back from showing the doctor my abnormal EKG, she told me that she was going to put me in a wheelchair and that everything was going to happen fast in the next 5 minutes.  She quickly wheeled me down the hall into a large room where many staff members were preparing different things.  They helped me to quickly take off my shirts, put on a gown, and lay on a bed and then they hooked me up to various monitors.  Before I knew it, the ER doctor was right there beside me asking me questions about my chest pain.  Another EKG was done.  Then I was given baby aspirins and nitroglycerin.  Blood was taken, and even a chest X-ray was done. 

After a few minutes, I was then put into another ER room and an ECHO was performed.  During the ECHO, the ER doctor returned and informed me that the cardiologist stated that there was no difference from the last EKG report, so my heart was fine.  However, the ER doctor stated that he had ordered a CT scan of the chest to rule out pulmonary embolism.  By this time, the pain level had subsided down from a 7 or 8 to about a 3 or 4.

Once the scan was completed, my mom and dad had come to the ER, so we all were just waiting for the news.  I kept thinking, “It’s just probably my intercostal muscles aggravating me again.  I don’t think I have a pulmonary embolism.  I am not having a heart attack.  I am feeling better now.  Soon the doctor will come to tell me I am good to go.”

Well, was I totally surprised! “Ms. Johnson, you do not have a pulmonary embolism, but you do have a lot of fluid in your lung.  I want to admit you because I believe that it needs to be drained.  This is not something that we can do here for you today so it will be up to the hospitalist to decide about doing this for you tomorrow.”

By the time that I got admitted into the hospital and the hospitalist saw me, my pain level was down to about a 1.  My mom, dad and sister Jeri were in the room with me.  After talking a bit about the fluid in my lung and the level of my chest pain, the hospitalist expressed his concern about the infarctions that have occurred in my spleen.  Whaaat!?

Apparently, the development of blood clots is common for cancer patients that undergo cancer treatment.  These splenic infarctions are indicative that my body is starting to develop blood clots.  Blood clots that form in the legs often times can get dislodged and can actually cause a pulmonary embolism (PE) (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/materials/cancer-and-blood-clots.html) Wow!  Go figure!  Currently my chest pain was not because of a PE; however, blood clots are starting to develop which increases the risk of having PE.  Uh oh. 

Ok wait a minute.  The spleen is in the abdomen and the CT was of my chest, right?

Isn’t God just so amazing!

Here I was just thinking, “Oh, my chest pain is because I probably strained my intercostal muscles” but no.  I am experiencing this chest pain because of the fluid in my lung and because I have developed radiation pneumonitis (RP).

Wow! Because I went to the ER as I chose to listened to the Holy Spirit prompting me to take care of his temple (1 Corinthians 6:19a: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?), the CT scan revealed to me how God had miraculously saved me from potential future disasters:

1. From https://www.healthline.com/health/radiation-pneumonitis Treating severe cases of RP will reduce the risk of it developing into permeant scarring of the lungs--pulmonary fibrosis. (I already have tumors in my lungs, I don’t need for my lungs to be less elastic!)

2. From https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/understanding-blood-clots-infographic.html Preventing development of blood clots will reduce the risk of having PE, which can be fatal.  

The radiation used to kill off the cancer cells in my left lung unfortunately also killed some of my healthy cells.  “Radiation pneumonitis happens to some people after they’ve received radiation treatments to their lungs or chest area.” (https://www.healthline.com/health/radiation-pneumonitis)

I just happened to be one of those patients.  But if I did not have this RP or if I would have just ignored my chest pain like I almost did, I might have developed a blood clot that could have led me to have a PE, which is a much scarier thing to think about.

God has used this time to educate me more about the various complications that can occur with my cancer treatments and what other signs and symptoms that I must now watch for.

Steroids, prednisone, is the usual treatment for severe cases of RP.  My oncologist has prescribed prednisone and recommended regular monitoring of the fluid build-up in my lung through CT scans and self-evaluation of my chest pain levels.  And for helping to reduce blood clot development, I am currently taking Eliquis.

Again, to God be the glory!  He is just so amazing!

I appreciate all your continued prayers.  I know that God continues to protect me because of the great love and concern from all of you as you continue pouring your hearts out to God for my healing.  Thank you and thanks be to God!

COMMENTS WHEN BLOG WAS FIRST POSTED ON CARING BRIDGE SITE:

cassandra senter: Thinking about you so much today....Love you and grateful our Father always looking out for you and holding you in His Loving hands! Cassandra

Joy Haas : Sending bear hugs, our dearest Kim. You inspire us no end.