Hello, I am Ashley Sarbell, I’m 24 years old, I’m a type 1 diabetic (for 22 years) and was studying to become a PMHNP (psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner). I have always had a passion for mental health advocacy, as well as disability advocacy because I was already disabled before my entire life got put on pause for the worst.

So, back in the beginning of November, I swallowed an iron pill wrong (aka aspirated a ferrous sulfate pill) and had to go to the ER because I couldn’t breathe and was wheezing. I was diagnosed with pill esophagitis. They gave me some foamy concoction that was supposed to numb my airway so I’d stop struggling to breathe, but I could tell it wasn’t working. I gave it time anyway and didn’t really think anything of it. I ended up going to urgent care a week later because I still couldn’t breathe and got diagnosed with bronchitis. I had bronchitis the year before and it didn’t really feel the same as last year, but that also could’ve been because I got it from the cold last year and not trauma to the airway. I also went 4 days later because I still couldn’t breathe after finishing the round of antibiotics they gave me and got diagnosed with bronchitis with asthma symptoms. I was given an inhaler and it was working really well for me for a few hours. Later that day, I ended up coughing so hard that I fractured my rib at work and had to go to the ER a 2nd time. I had to call an ambulance to come pick me up in the Walmart parking lot because I couldn’t lift my legs high enough to drive myself there. I had a follow up appointment with my PCP about a week-week and a half later and she ordered me a CT scan because she thought the problem was pneumonia and the X-ray from the fractured rib didn’t show it. I then go get the CT scan the next day and they send me back to the ER for a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung) and they put me on blood thinners and a medication for pneumonia. A few days later, I go to the physical therapist for some paperwork for my medical leave for work and on my way there, I cough so hard that I fractured my rib again. I didn’t go to the ER that time around because the rib didn’t hurt as bad as the first time and I could still lift my legs. I was doing fine for a little bit until about a week after when I had to stop taking the medication for pneumonia because it gave me a yeast infection. This took me to around December 16th. I was still short of breath and my coworkers would frequently check on me because they told me I looked and sounded terrible from all the wheezing. I randomly woke up in the morning on December 22nd and I couldn’t breathe way more than usual. I got up and walked about 10 feet and was breathing so hard that I had to sit down for about 20 minutes. I thought it was just a bad “asthma symptom” day and used my inhaler and I went the whole day as normal. I went into work and had to sit down and lay my head down after walking only a few feet and back. I only recently learned that one of the telling signs of hypoxia is “wanting to rip your skin off” because of the lack of oxygen in your body, which is what I was feeling at work. I tried sleeping that night and woke up at around 5 am and texted my mom asking if I should call an ambulance because I still couldn’t breathe. I finally gave in and went to the ER, but I drove myself there because ambulances are expensive and I definitely couldn’t afford a second one. When I got there, they took another CT scan of me and found another blood clot in my heart and a smaller one in my left lung. So basically, I had blood clots in each of my lungs and one in my heart. They did a thrombectomy and removed the blood clot in my heart with a catheter through my femoral artery (groin area). I was admitted in the hospital for 5 days (12/23-12/28) and I still couldn’t really move or breathe so they did another CT scan and found out my lung had collapsed. They put me on oxygen and released me from the hospital and I stayed home and rested. I had a lot of appointments and running back and forth for testing, but nothing really significant occurred for the next month. They took a CT scan of my lungs again back in February and said that I wasn’t getting better at all, so they changed my blood thinners. I got an echocardiogram in March and they said there’s no strain on my right atrium anymore (yay) and now I have to wait until August in order to be considered for a bronchoscopy to get my lung reinflated. I recently got a second nuclear medicine lung scan and they said I’m not getting any better and there’s still clotting in my lungs. I’m really scared that my lung is going to scar over and I’ll be disabled for life, won’t be able to pursue my career as a PMHNP, won’t be able to get ahead in life or have the ability or energy to do any of my hobbies outside of work. Walking more than 20 feet makes my heart rate spike to 130-140 BPM. I am currently back at work, but I am on a reduced schedule for the foreseeable future.