On Saturday afternoon I collapsed without warning...
I fell face first onto the concrete floor and was rendered unconscious. The officer on duty called in a "Code Blue" for the medical team to respond to my housing area. I was on my way to the chapel at the time, but never made it out of the building.
Since the surgery, I have been very short of breath. Sometimes my shortness of breath was so severe that I would fall to my knees gasping for air. It was scary!
Being unconscious and unresponsive when the medical team arrived, I had no idea what was transpiring. I did, however, awaken suddenly when I was in the Infirmary. I awoke to find myself strapped into a gurney, a nurse gently patting my face as I was bleeding through the nose. I told the nurses and guards who were around me that I had no recollection of what happened. I was then informed that an ambulance was on its way.
It took a while for it to get here, but when the ambulance arrived I was whisked into the vehicle and driven back to the Albany Medical Center. It was a ninety minute drive.
Now I'm back in a room on the hospital's prison ward. I've been having tests done. I also got myself more sheets of paper towel and another rubber pen, and I'm writing what I can remember of my ordeal. I'm doing a rough outline, but when I get back to my unit my friends who saw what happened will fill me in on all that transpired while I was unconscious.
Subsequent tests reveal that my lungs are slowly filling up with fluid, thus leaving me less and less room for oxygen. It's actually a serious medical situation, but this is why I passed out. In fact, if I didn't collapse when I did, and if I never got to the hospital when I did, I could've died.
My lungs were filling with fluid and the medical staff at the prison was unaware of this, and by the time they would have realized how serious the situation was, it would've been too late.
D. B.
Since the surgery, I have been very short of breath. Sometimes my shortness of breath was so severe that I would fall to my knees gasping for air. It was scary!
Being unconscious and unresponsive when the medical team arrived, I had no idea what was transpiring. I did, however, awaken suddenly when I was in the Infirmary. I awoke to find myself strapped into a gurney, a nurse gently patting my face as I was bleeding through the nose. I told the nurses and guards who were around me that I had no recollection of what happened. I was then informed that an ambulance was on its way.
It took a while for it to get here, but when the ambulance arrived I was whisked into the vehicle and driven back to the Albany Medical Center. It was a ninety minute drive.
Now I'm back in a room on the hospital's prison ward. I've been having tests done. I also got myself more sheets of paper towel and another rubber pen, and I'm writing what I can remember of my ordeal. I'm doing a rough outline, but when I get back to my unit my friends who saw what happened will fill me in on all that transpired while I was unconscious.
Subsequent tests reveal that my lungs are slowly filling up with fluid, thus leaving me less and less room for oxygen. It's actually a serious medical situation, but this is why I passed out. In fact, if I didn't collapse when I did, and if I never got to the hospital when I did, I could've died.
My lungs were filling with fluid and the medical staff at the prison was unaware of this, and by the time they would have realized how serious the situation was, it would've been too late.
D. B.
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