This hospital literally saved my life. I had what ...

This hospital literally saved my life. I had what I thought was a minor sore throat but as the day went by it got worse and worse. By the middle of the night I couldn't breathe without effort and could only whisper. My boyfriend took me to UCI. While he was parking the car I was triaged and moved to a treatment room. One look down my throat and the nurse called a code blue. I was quickly seen by an ENT doctor who told me that my throat was so swollen they couldn't insert a breathing tube. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and a pain med IV. He told me clearly that if the medications did not bring down the swelling quickly they would have to do a tracheotomy. Luckily the swelling did subside and I was soon breathing normally and the pain had vanished. He provided a course of antibiotics and advised me to schedule a tonsillectomy once I was finished with the antibiotics. Though I never did know what caused this intense swelling as I said this hospital saved my life by acting very quickly. The doctor was first rate and so was the nurse who held my hand after injecting the medications. This was especially helpful since I have had bad reactions to pain medications in the past. The injection that night felt like fire in my veins and had she not been right there telling me it was normal and would pass in a few minutes I would have truly panicked. Not being able to breathe is beyond scary so thinking the pain med might cause an allergic reaction that.might suffocate me was terrifying. She literally held my hand until the burning sensation passed and I was breathing easier. I left the hospital in the morning and was so much better we went out to breakfast. Great hospital and great staff!