Nancy was doing fine today and from Noon to about 2 o’clock we visited and looked at Christmas cards and she wrote short notes on the bottom of letters I’ll mail to family and friends for whom I haven’t found e-mail addresses. One procedure, done before I arrived, was the withdrawal of 800 ml of fluid from her lungs via a needle through the back. Ouch! The issue is they want her lungs to get better as fast as possible so the valve replacement operation can be done. Taking out the fluid is the fastest way of helping that problem along. Her heart seems to be strong enough – as a muscle – but the leaking parts need fixed real soon.
I am in awe of modern medicine.
I am less respectful (rant alert) of some of the ‘stuff’ that happens.
Nancy has had “procedures” in the Catheterization Lab twice. One and one-half days after the first she was on life-support and fully sedated in the ICU within the same building (I think the former is one floor above the later). Within two days she received (at home) a letter and survey form wanting her to confirm their high regard for their services. I sent it back suggesting – to the Director – that their protocol include finding out the whereabouts and health status of the intended recipient. Her second visit to the Cath-Lab was the night time attachment of the external pacemaker and she is back in the ICU again. The letter and questionnaire almost beat me home from the hospital.
But wait, there’s more. The dear patient (or Nancy as we call her) gets a second letter. This one advises her that she is pre-scheduled (what’s the purpose of the “pre” here) for a ‘pacemaker check’ at 2 PM on January 6th 2010 and failure to appear could cost her $100. Okay, they provide a number to call to alter this. Hello, hospital! She is in the ICU. She is going to get a permanent pacemaker on Monday. The one this letter is about – we’ll send it back in a plastic bag for you to check. (Rant off.)
Finally – if you are still with me – the ICU discourages visitors. In Nancy’s case she is quite able to have visitors but people in nearby rooms are very seriously ill. If it were not for potential problems with the heart valve they would likely move her out and if they need the room, they will. So, no visits, please, as requested by the ICU nurses.
There was heavy fog today. They closed I-82 for a time but I apparently passed the exit they were to set up at before the police got there. When I came down off the last ridge into our valley I could see the flashing police car lights blocking the south-bound lanes. There was only one short stretch where the cars and trucks slowed to about 60 mph, and keeping a respectable distance between us, we sailed on through without a glitch.