Spontaneous...

Spontaneous can be awesome word. I believe I’m the type of person who can be spontaneous and flexible when needed. Okay… in my own mind I am. Tony might beg to differ.

So, no post last week as a situation spontaneously unfolded which left my family scrabbling, panicked, worried, and mentally exhausted. What my family wasn’t prepared for last week was the power of human body and its ability to be Spontaneous.

My little brother, whom I adore and just had the best day ever with (Homecoming), was experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath while in class. He has such a high tolerance for pain so, imagine NERD BOY leaving class to go visit the school nurse because he can’t BREATHE!

After a quick assessment by the nurse an ambulance was going to be called but my father works on campus so he opted to drive him to the emergency room.

Wait for it… he was diagnosed with Spontaneous Pneumothorax. A collapsed left lung. Apparently, the condition is seen in young men in their 20s who are tall and thin. My brother is:

ü  Tall

ü  Thin

ü  20 years old… whoa… wait… what… um 14??

No rhyme, no reason, no logical explanation by specialists. After a day of wait and see his lung had collapsed below his 4^th rib. He was admitted to hospital and placed on oxygen therapy. Solution stick a tube in his chest to allow the escaped air a way out. Unfortunately, the risk outweighed the benefit.

He endured an IV which was inserted by a nurse whom… let’s just say wasn’t used to dealing with pediatric patients. My father about went "bat shiz crazy" on her. My parents endured question after question about trauma he may have experienced… accident, physical trauma, no… no… no… 

And finally, he was a medical celebrity of sorts. This hospital had never seen a Spontaneous Pneumothorax in a child this young and all their nursing students wanted front row seat to the TUBE procedure. The whole time this was unfolding my mother said the only thought in her mind was, "get the hell out of my lane!"

After the longest 72 hours in our family history he was stable and lung slowly starting to repair itself. He described the episode as being hit in the chest by a Semi. We are hoping this is a onetime episode but who knows. We shall WAIT and SEE.