Hawaii, Day 5

So at 2 o'clock this morning I woke up after having a very odd series of dreams of not being able to breathe. When I woke up, I realized it was just my unconscious mind being very creative for what was actually happening. I could not breathe. It was quite terrifying. My chest was really tight and there was a slight burn each time I tried to inhale and hold in the breath - which I couldn't do...at all. I got up and made it to our little fridge, grabbed some water and started drinking. 

For some reason my throat felt swollen, like it was closing off. I was getting concerned that maybe I was having an allergic reaction of some sort. After a few more gulps I made my way back to the bed and crawled in. I laid there for several minutes trying to convince myself not to wake up my husband because I was probably just being dramatic and this was nothing. However, then I got the wheeze. I could not hold a breath in for long at all. My lungs would seriously just not hold in the air. Then, on the exhale my lungs would sort of spasm and caused a whistling wheeze each time. 

After a few minutes of that, I folded. I shook Cory and said, "I think something might be wrong with me, I can't breathe." He sat up very quickly and asked me if I was alright and started patting my back. I asked to turn on the light and see if my face or anything looked swollen and then explained that I felt like my throat was swollen like I may be having some sort of allergic reaction. 

He jumped out of bed super fast to turn on the light and then totally starts freaking out. I was freaking out at this point too. I could only hold enough air in my lungs at a time for like one or two words. So...trying to get a full sentence or make anything coherent was...pretty disturbing. It was somewhere between 7 and 8 o'clock in the morning Missouri time, so I decided to call my mommy. 

That made things even more panicky. She freaks out and tells me I need to go to a hospital now. Cory had already called the front desk at this point to see if they were aware of any 24 hour pharmacies or nearby clinics. Then we had to call Cory's mom too, of course, she's an RN afterall. I ended up taking some Benadryl, because if it were an allergic reaction it would counter the symptoms and if it weren't it would still settle stuff in my chest. 

Turns out...it was an asthma attack. I haven't had one like that in so long I didn't even recognize it! Quite terrifying. After the Benadryl though I was able to fall back asleep sometime between 3:30 and 4:00am. Then the hubs woke me up between 7:30-8:00am to check on me. I decided to go ahead and get up, which was sort of amazing considering I had taken a Benadryl. I was very drowsy though. 

Also...it's our anniversary. So...Happy Anniversary, huh? Then we decided we had to go do laundry at the hotel laundry room because we were quite literally out of clean clothes. It was a little old school considering everything else on the resort and so that took about 2 hours. Lame. 

We ate a small breakfast and then headed down to Kona where my doctor had been able to call me in an inhaler. 

After getting the inhaler we start the hunt for a pulse oximeter. You would not believe how hard it is to find one of those here! Half of the time when we called pharmacies they didn't even know what we were talking about and we had to explain it! I mean, come on people! For some weird reason people on the island may not have as many respiratory problems, but how does a pharmacist not even know what one is? 

Our search was urgent because we had booked a trip to Mauna Kea (the tallest mountain in the world). At the top there is 40% less oxygen. Didn't seem like a good idea considering our current circumstances, but we had already paid for the trip and would not be able to get even a partial refund. We finally found like a small medical supply place and the man there was a respiratory therapist. He didn't have any for sale, but he did own one himself and let us borrow it! 

People are crazy trusting here! I'm so thankful they are, but let's face it...something like that would never happen back home. I was shocked. It is probably somewhere in the range of a $1,000 oximeter too, not just some little cheapy. Your oxygen level is suppose to always be within a few numbers of 100%, for asthmatics it is never suppose to drop below 94%. If so, most of the time you're hospitalized to at least receive oxygen. Mine was 95% when I first checked it. Not bad. Not great either, but it'll do. After all of that we only had enough time to come back to the resort and get ready for the mountain trip. 

We met up with the tour guide and about 12 other individuals. We loaded up onto our little bus and started the hour drive (or so) up to the mountain. When we started reaching about 6,000 feet my p/o (pulse/ox) dropped to about 90%. The air felt very thin and it started feeling a little difficult to hold air in my lungs again. When we reached the visitors center where we would be eating and hanging out for a while and is at about 9,000 feet my p/o had dropped to about 88-89%. Not good. Then again, there is like 30% less oxygen in the air up there, so that's basically to be expected with anyone. 

The view started getting amazing when we loaded back up on the bus to make it up to the very top of the mountain: 13,500 feet. At this point every breathe felt like a cold, burning sensation - and, again, felt like I could't hold any air in my lungs. The slightest movement at all made me completely out of breath. Just raising up my camera to snap a picture made me feel like I'd just done a whole series of Insanity workouts. 

The view though, was also breathe taking. It was like we were between two layers of clouds. A few thousand feet below us was a thick layer of clouds that spread out all around us. It was thinner in some areas so I could still see the other mountains and land for great distances in some spots. Then, above us clouds scattered all throughout the sky. The sun was going down quickly. I know I've went on and on about my sunsets here, but I really can't tell you how much orange, pink, purple, red and yellow filled the sky from this point-of-view. The sun was the brightest circle of orange I've ever seen it be. Below it the sky was in a layer of colors. The lowest layer was a deep neon orange that blended with a little yellow. The next layer was pink. I mean pink. There were streaks of a very deep red throughout it. The next layer blended into a purple-ish, blue that finally faded into the rest of the bluish, gray sky color. 

All of these layers flowed and blended so well together that it was difficult to make the distinctions. This set off an amazing glow on the layer of clouds that was above us, causing them to appear orange, pink, red, yellow and all the other colors as well. 

When the sun had finally set below the clouds so that we couldn't see it anymore, the moon was rising. It was also a yellowish, orange ball floating in the sky. As it continued to get higher it turned more white. 

It was freezing up there. We were all in heavy coats with huge gloves and our faces covered and I was still shivering like crazy. 

As soon as the sun and descended past our viewing we loaded back up in the bus to go back down the the visitors center for some star gazing. As we made the winding path back down the mountain and got through that lower layer of clouds, the remaining light from the sun had left a very deep, deep red-ish orange color in the sky. That's the best I can describe it. The color was absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous. I've never seen the sky look so red and so orange at the same time. Nor so beautiful. It was a spectacular sight that I'm glad to have endured. 

When I checked my p/o upon returning to the bus...it was at 70%. I felt dizzy and was certain that I would pass out at any moment. I didn't. Thank God. He is good to me. 

After making it back down to the visitors center and starting our star gazing, I must say I was really unimpressed. I mean, when we actually got to look through the huge telescopes it was awesome. 

However, there was a little too much 'story' behind every single start they showed up and it took forever. 

We got to look at Saturn though. It was amazing. When I pressed my eye up to the telescope the planet was so bright and clear, it looked as if they were just perfect little stickers stuck to the end of the scope. It was completely white. I could even see the appearance of a white line that extended past the little white circle (Saturn's rings!). Too cool. The view we got of the moon was also spectacular. I could see every little line and so many craters. Again, it seriously looked so clear and magnified, it was like I was just staring at a magnified picture. But, the whole process was just a little too long. And I was already feeling sick, I couldn't breathe, my head hurt, I was dizzy and the lack of oxygen was really getting to me. 

When it was finally time to leave, I'm pretty sure Cory and I both conked out before the bus was even all the way down from the mountain. I've never been able to rest that well on a bus ride. When we arrived back at the resort the air was so weird. It felt so thick and heavy. My p/o was back up to like 90% though! So that was good. 

Now, it's time for sleep. Oh...my last night on this amazing bed! I seriously put the bed very high on the list of perks. But, I am so ready to see my baby! I had no idea I would miss Aiko so much. I randomly have little freak out that put me in near tears over not being with her. Yeah...super dramatic, I know. Mommy's coming home, Aiko! Tomorrow. It's bittersweet.