Labor breathing Labor Day.

I am reminded again how incredibly blessed I am to have a man like James in my life.  He has been suffering with the respiratory crap that we have all been passing around.  He was coughing so hard this week that he had pulled something in his side and his stomach was bulging out on the side and hard as a rock.  He was coughing from his pinkie toes.  This morning we were laying in bed and he was flat on his back when a coughing fit hit him.  The first cough did him in and he let out a screaming and fell apart in the bed for about 5-10 minutes before he was able to speak.  He told me that he felt and heard something crack.  He said he believes he broke a rib.  He was unable to sit up and just laid in bed sobbing and screaming.  I was terrified and didn't know what to do.  After some gentle yet aggressive suggestions to go to the doc he decided to go.  I dropped off the kids and took him to Immediate Care.  They took an x-ray of his lungs and looked for pneumonia.  Doc was more concerned for the long lasting cough and lack of oxygen than the possible broken rib.  They decided to give him a steroid shot to give him a boost and had us stay for 15 minutes.  Boy am I glad that they did.  He started to have a reaction to it and within 5 minutes was howling and wouldn't respond to me.  The color drained out of his face and his eyes were floating. I grabbed the nurses and they brought him a cold wash cloth and took his vitals.  Shortly after his blood pressure came back up and his face began to regain color.  They said that wasn't uncommon with that steroid.  They said that they have a joke they say of the bigger they are the harder they fall.  Big guys with tattoos (i.e. James) turn to mush with that drug.  The nurses came back to check his oxygen.  It was below 90 and they wanted it up before they cut him loose.  James was able to take a deeper breath with the thought of a hospital and endure the pain a bit.  We picked up his medications one steroid, one Z pac, one pain killer, and one cough suppressant and we were off to pick up the kids.  James went through all of that and still has to go to work tonight.  He was under a load heading to North Carolina and then another to Wichita that he couldn't back out of.  So we sent him off to work tonight with worry and prayers.  Such a hard working man that man of mine.  I don't know if I could be that strong to hop in a truck and drive all night in pain.  Safe travels to you honey.  We love you and miss you already.