I ended up in the emergency room on November 22. It was pretty scary. Thankfully, in the non-Covid part of the ER no one was there and they took me right back. It might have been the gasping for breath but I’m a little fuzzy on the details. I’m a half full kind of girl and in most instances that serves me well, but in this case, I had let things get out of hand.
Two weeks earlier I saw my PCP on what we both thought was a sinus infection. As if my custom, it got down into my chest and we thought is was bronchitis. By the 19th, I was feeling better. Two days later, while I was broadcasting my Friday show, I started feeling really bad again. I had a lung abscess and we believe looking back on it, that is when it burst and fluid started going into my right chest cavity. I called my PCP and we set some parameters of oxygen saturation rates that would mean, “go to the hospital.”
I was admitted and told pretty quickly, they would have to do surgery. This was a rare occurrence; leave it to me to do the unusual. The fluid was encapsulated so they would make two incisions in my back and go in and get the fluid out by any means necessary. The surgery was a success and the healing process began.
I’m taking it one day at a time and getting better every day. My doctor said for me to incorporate as much normalcy into my routine as I can handle understanding I will get tired. So Bill Maine installed a makeshift studio in my home so I could do the show and not be around people. In addition, my other projects primarily require me to do interviews with media about the Senate runoff, so I can do that by phone.
From the beginning of the pandemic, I have said don’t ignore your health. I had a full physical in late September and my lungs were clear. That medical history being current allowed my medical care team to make the best decisions for my health and probably saved my life. Take care of yourself in all ways, not just avoiding Covid.
Also, a big thanks to the staff at Northeast Georgia Health Systems. I don’t know how many doctors, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants (PA), nurses, techs and more that I interacted with, but they were all top notch and were working round the clock to get me out of this medical emergency and back home. Healthcare in this country is getting bashed, but I can tell you in this situation, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Finally, and I’ll be writing more about this in the coming days and weeks—having your calendar cleared opens your mind for lots of writing ideas—I did not encounter a single person who cared what my politics was. These are people who work nights, 12-hour shifts and have been caring for people during and before Covid and will be caring for people after. I’m not saying, when some found out what I did that they didn’t ask me questions. And I tried to give them answers. But the greatest blessing of this very scary time was talking to real people going to work every day and they just want a government that lets them do that. We will talk a lot more about that over the next weeks.
I’ve identified three issues that American policy makers should embrace as the issues to bring Americans together. I’ll be writing about them between now and the end of February. I’m a proud Republican who has exercised constant conservative values throughout my life and I know we can get together and get this country united towards the values we all hold dear. This is the greatest country in the world and I am thankful to still be here.
