During the procedure where I was under anesthesia, I evidently gagged on something that had I not been under sedation I would have coughed up. But as it was I began choking and stopped breathing. They manually breathed for me with a pump for a few minutes and of course, aborted the procedure. They explained all this after they stopped the anesthesia. After 30 minutes they let me go but advised that if I get a high fever to go to the ER. They feared I aspirated something that could cause aspiration pneumonia or pneumonitis.
Well of course a few hours later I have the chills, high BP, racing pulse, and 102° fever; so off I go to UNC's ER. I wait in the waiting room for three hours then get a chest X-ray and an EKG. Then back I go where they start me on antibiotics and saline via IV. They wanted to keep me overnight to observe. That's a joke because they were too busy with trauma cases that they never looked at me again. The admitting nurse came in and said they would move me upstairs to a 24 hour observation space. At 5am I was wheeled up and over to a bed. They took more blood and gave me more IV antibiotics. Later the attending physician wanted me to stay another night to make sure all was well. My vital signs went to normal and the tests were all negative so Sunday morning they let me out in time for me to come home and pack for my trip to Mexico that afternoon. All's well that ends well I guess.
