Last Sunday, late at night, I experienced a severe episode of breathlessness. Having lived all my life with bronchial asthma, I know my usual triggers. But this felt different. I took my inhaler and sat upright all night, trying to keep the airways unobstructed. The next day, I felt a lot better, but decided I should still see a doctor. He suggested a Covid test, and a chest CT scan. The antigen test results came immediately. Negative. The RT-PCR results would come in 24-48 hours.
On Tuesday morning, I received the CT scan reports. One of my lungs had collapsed. Spontaneous pneumothorax. There was air build-up inside my pleural cavity, that caused my right lung to deflate, and push against my heart. I needed immediate medical intervention. Usually this condition is accompanied by high fever and a sharp pain in the chest, but somehow I had no external symptoms. At the insistence of family, I got myself admitted to a hospital. It was Tuesday midnight. The doctors at the Emergency called up their senior Pulmonologist, and he advised intercostal chest tube drainage. And so, in the early hours of Wednesday, a sterile tube was slowly pushed through a small incision under my armpit, past my ribcage, and into my chest, as I muffled my screams.
Thereafter, I was transferred to an isolation ward, as my RT-PCR results hadn't come. That arrived a day later. Still negative. With Covid ruled out, I moved to the normal ward. And waited, for four days on antibiotics and painkillers and oxygen, as my lung slowly re-expanded back to its normal shape. Upon visual confirmation through follow up X-rays and a CT scan, the doctors removed the tube today. Hopefully in the next 24 hours, that is by Monday, I should be back home.
Why did this happen? Well, from what I learnt over the past few days, the outside surface of our lungs have these small air blisters, called pulmonary blebs, that can randomly burst. This causes spontaneous collection of air inside the pleural cavity, and the difference in pressure leads to a pneumothorax. If this is significant, it will cause hypoxia and then respiratory failure. Although people with lung disease are at higher risk, this can happen to anyone. Let that sink in. For no apparent reason, your body is trying to kill you.
But, I am alive. All thanks to my wife, immediate family, relatives, and friends who made mountains move. Literally. And, of course, the superhero team of doctors, nurses, and support staff at Manipal Hospital.
