Nancy’s follow-up to a week of intensive care . . .
Hello folks, I’m back. We stayed till 9:30 at the potluck and jam session. Each day at 3 P.M. I get infusions. Rocephin. Drip. Drip. Gentamycin. Drip. Drip.
Saturday and Sunday the procedure differs because out-patient services are not open on the weekend. So I go to the regular Medical Surgical nurse station (MedSurg in hospital-speak) and check in. They treated me like a million dollars too… and all went well. John brings a book and I sleep.
I’m a thousand percent better, if that is possible mathematically, from last Tuesday a week ago when I entered ER in Ellensburg. They still did not really find a source of internal bleeding, so I’m blaming it on the bacteria and hopeful the antibiotics will vanquish them forever and the blood loss. (Maybe it could be suppressed production and not a loss? Just a thought. Either way, maybe it will vanish. JFH) Only 5 ½ weeks to go. Drip. Drip. The Gentamycin was added because of my pig valve in my heart. Previously, June/July ‘09, I was on straight Rocephin.
I think the one day I had the CT Scan, Endoscopy, Colonoscopy, and a ton of Barium X-rays of the whole track, upper and lower intestines, from 2:45 till 10:00 P.M., and about 5 blood draws, that I deserved the an award for the most procedures one patient was subjected to in one day. I might have had the TEE that morning too. That also included a rude awakening early morning by the nurse who had seen a succession of atrial fibrillations and thought there was a V-tac going on. It was not. She was obviously upset and wanted to know if I had any chest pain; well no, only the continuing pain from the two clots in my spleen. I also said I was having a night mare (probably caused by the antibiotics, she said). So I was ready to go back to sleep and await the morning blood draw at 5:15 a.m.
Rest in the hospital has to come in pieces. One morning (night?) they woke me at 3:30 to weigh me. Hello! I’m supposed to rest. I got pretty good at it. The last few days there I was moved to a MUCH quieter room on the 4th floor in ACU (Acute Care Unit). That is one step down from ICU (intensive care) but honestly in my case I was still on telemetry and oxygen and still very monitored.
We’ll return to Sunday postings now. I trust the next reports will continue with my feeling better and improving. Don’t quite have the stamina back yet after a week of bed rest, but I’m getting there.
~ ~ ~ ~It seems when Nancy has issues the house colludes with her. Our water system – well, house, barn, yard – seems to be leaking. We have a 30 gallon pressurized tank. The pump is supposed to keep water in it and another gizmo inflates an internal bubble and presto we have water when and where we want it. Currently the pump and gizmo do their stuff and then the water drains back out via some unknown leak. Then the pump – pumps again, and it drains out again. Drip. Drip.
Nice folks came this morning and carried away the penultimate puppy – I turned the pump on and got enough warm water so we could send her off without the dirt. We still have the male but need to wait a few more weeks until he develops immunity to parvovirus because of the known incidence of it somewhere visited by the family that got the little guy that died (and the virus is now in their own house and yard). We stopped and got him an extra vial of prevention today. So he gets a shot tonight. Ouch! — but hopefully no drip, drip.
We have a report back on the little puppy who left today. She slept the entire 3.5 hour trip home. They have introduced her to their securely fenced backyard, and their older dogs in the house. She has explored the house. She also found out about a water sprinkler and enjoyed getting her head wet, staying a happy puppy. We are grateful for yet another fantastic home.