I’d like to say the day started out normally but it certainly didn’t. I woke up at my girlfriends house and noticed a strange burning sensation in my neck. I didn’t think too much of it but was annoyed because it hurt.
I dropped off the zipcar headed home to shower and get ready for work.
Zap. Zap. Ouch. What the fuck? The burning sensation seemed to be coming from the lymph nodes on the left side of my neck.
By the time I got into work I was a bit worried and wasn’t sure what could be wrong with me but I did my best to just work and not worry about it. The obsession took hold and I found myself looking shit up online.
The day went on and the occurrences subsided-I was happy.
I packed up and headed to yoga.
I practiced my competition postures and then class started. During pranayama I noticed I was struggling with my breath. I didn’t think much about it since we were taking class with Dan who keeps the class pretty hot and holds postures consistently and solidly. Still I knew something was up because I can easily breathe for six seconds in either direction.
As class went on I noticed that my breathing was short and shallow and I was struggling to catch my breath. At one point I noticed that it felt like there was a muscle spasm or and internal burp in the upper quadrant of my right chest.
During the second set of balancing stick I really stretched front to back fingertips to toes and I noticed my right scapula cracked a bit, or made some noise. It isn’t uncommon for this to happen, but what happened next was very uncommon.
It felt like I couldn’t breathe, like no matter what I did I couldn’t catch my breath. Still I wanted to make it through triangle so I did the first and second sets realizing that I had done something bad to my back. It started tightening up and felt like it just would release.
After the second set I attempted to go into the next posture but I just collapsed on the floor. I couldn’t believe it. I had blown the competition. I pulled my back so badly that I couldn’t even get comfortable on the floor. I couldn’t believe the fact I was sitting out a posture something I just never do no matter what. Angered I attempted to get back up and and do the posture, but I just couldn’t. I didn’t have enough energy to stand up and by back was killing me. I sat back down and then got pissed and thought “I am outta here…” I grabbed my shit and attempted to leave but everyone was in a posture so I sat back down trying to be a good yogi.
Dan let me know that he would be with me in a minute and when he finally came over I let him know that “I had pulled it.” By that I was referring to the whole right side of my back. He walked me to the office where I collapsed again, but this time in tears because I realized all of my hard work over that past year was all over. I wasn’t going to be able to compete this year because of what happened. It was pretty sad.
More pressing was the fact that I couldn’t breathe nor get into a comfortable position. Dan got me some water and had me drink but I just could cope with the pain. He told me he was going to get Jemma to sit with me but I told him to get Heather. Meanwhile Dan’s friend Dave (I think) came into the office to help me. Finally Heather came in and I felt bad for taking her away from her practice thinking I was just being a baby about all of this.
She tried her best to get me comfortable but the reality was that I wasn’t going to be comfortable until I went to the Hospital. I realized sitting there with her that I was suffocating and that I must have done something to my lung either by breaking a rib or by puncturing it. I couldn’t breath and I was starting to fade out. I told Heather to call 911.
By the time the EMT’s arrived I was lying on the floor near the door still writhing in pain and still unable to breath. They put me into this chair and were about to drag me down the stairs when Heather told them there was an elevator. Once they got me outside the bounced me around on the brick sidewalk. That was when I heard them talking to one another “So Ted how’s your night going?” Yep I was just a piece of meat they were moving around. Just another transport devoid of any real attention. Fucking assholes. They were assholes because they made all kinds of assumptions as to why I was hurt and none of which were grounded in any sort of science. They kept saying “He was doing yoga” as if it were some sort of joke or some stupidity on my part.
Once I was in the ambulance the EMT asked me which hospital I wanted to go to. Me, still being unable to breathe and at this point thinking I was going to die, thought “Gee I don’t fucking know how about you just bring me somewhere so I don’t die?”
“Send him to room 4” someone said as they wheeled me in on a stretcher. Once in the room they put me on oxygen and slowly the pain started to subside. Prior to the X-Ray of my chest the doctor suggestion I may have a collapsed lung. I laughed internally thinking “Yea right. I’m just being a baby and everything is all right.”
After the X-Ray, when the doctor cam back and told me I had a spontaneous pneumothorax I started crying. I wasn’t even sure of what it meant but I knew that it meant I was going to have to take some narcotics. I suppose I was a bit scared also :>…
Stay tuned for part II