boyfriend in hospital :/

hey guys

so my boyfriend and i were in the car today, he was driving, and we were on our way to get a few things done when things suddenly flipped everything around.

he started to have a terrible pain in his right shoulder blade, and he became very short of breath, he hunched over to the point where we had to pull over to the side of the 5 and i had to jump out and switch seats with him.

so here i was, driving a stick shift on a 6 lane highway with my boyfriend a crumpled mess of pain and ache, moaning and crying profusely, clutching onto anything that would sustain his grip as he rode through the pain. hell, i don't even have my drivers license yet, i don't know how to drive manual! but it wasn't too nerve racking because i had a fairly clear idea of what was happening.

he had suffered a right primary spontaneous pneumothorax about a month ago while i was on a trip to new york to visit my parents. its a scary, but somewhat common thing to happen to guys from the ages of about 20-40, who are tall and somewhat thin in stature. this type of pneumothorax is caused when a bleb (kind of a tiny imperfection in the lining of the lung, almost like a little blister) bursts causing the lung to deflate. If a patient suffers two or more instances of a spontaneous pneumothorax, surgeons often recommend a bullectomy and pleurectomy. what is strange about all of this is that a pneumothorax usually occurs in mostly healthy patients that do not have any previous history of lung disease or breathing problems.

when he had the primary spontaneous pneumothorax, his doctor and lung specialist told him that it is a fairly uncommon occurrence, and that since it was the first incidence of the problem that they would watch him very carefully, and voided all activities that would increase his breathing and heart rate in any way shape or form. so no sports or strenuous activities for 6 months. during that period, the risk that another occurrence could take place decreases gradually, and if he was incident free for a year, the chance would be replaced to that of a normal persons. sounds good, right?

but my instincts were correct, and when we arrived at the hospital, where after waiting for an hour after countless kids with small cuts and broken fingers were taken before he was, (it always seems that the world is so completely small and insignificant when someone you love is in trouble, doesn't it?) the prognosis was that he has suffered another occurrence, which would now be considered a secondary spontaneous pneumothorax. this is considered much more serious than the previous time, though even though the actual hole was smaller, it shows that his lungs are very prone to this sort of thing, which is not good.

so since he has "recurrent pneumothoraxs'", he will require further corrective and preventive measures, such as this special kind of procedure that i have since forgotten the name of because i am so exhausted. he will basically need to have an injection of a chemical irritant that triggers an inflammatory reaction inside the lung, leading to adhesion of the lung to the cavity wall. the surgeon will literally have to rough up inside the chest wall so his lung attaches to the wall with scar tissue.

not fun.

they had to transfer him to a few different hospitals throughout the course of the day because they want him to be able to get the best treatment possible, which of course would require being treated by the best specialist we can get our hands on. he was finally admitted, and after he got settled in they kicked me out though he was in tremendous pain, he sat there with an oxygen mask on and tried his best to make me smile, he's really a trooper and he is so much braver than i am

anyway, (i needed to vent a little..) my main question is that i would like to know what you guys think i could help do to ease things up for him in the ways i can, since i cannot actually take away all of his pain (though i would if i could.) should i make him something? what would be useful to keep him entertained during his stay? anything at all would be helpful.. anywho i need to rest, i have a long drive early tomorrow to visit.

i guess the most important thing right now is to keep my spirits high

There is nothing better then having someone just be there. Keep a positive outlook, because he will not always be able to.

Visit him as much as you`re allowed to. Bring along some things to cheer him up - its really boring sitting in a hospital! Bring some magazines, or a book he might like to read, or even a portable game system.