Nancy was doing fine today and from Noon to about 2 o\u2019clock we visited and looked at Christmas cards and she wrote short notes on the bottom of letters I\u2019ll mail to family and friends for whom I haven\u2019t found e-mail addresses.\u00a0 One procedure, done before I arrived, was the withdrawal of 800 ml of fluid from her lungs via a needle through the back.\u00a0 Ouch!\u00a0 The issue is they want her lungs to get better as fast as possible so the valve replacement operation can be done.\u00a0 Taking out the fluid is the fastest way of helping that problem along.\u00a0 Her heart seems to be strong enough \u2013 as a muscle \u2013 but the leaking parts need fixed real soon.<\/p>\n
I am in awe of modern medicine.<\/p>\n
I am less respectful (rant alert) of some of the \u2018stuff\u2019 that happens.<\/p>\n
Nancy has had \u201cprocedures\u201d in the Catheterization Lab twice.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Within two days she received (at home) a letter and survey form wanting her to confirm their high regard for their services.\u00a0 I sent it back suggesting \u2013 to the Director \u2013 that their protocol include finding out the whereabouts and health status of the intended recipient.\u00a0 Her second visit to the Cath-Lab was the night time attachment of the external pacemaker and she is back in the ICU again.\u00a0 The letter and questionnaire almost beat me home from the hospital.<\/p>\n
But wait, there\u2019s more.\u00a0 The dear patient (or Nancy as we call her) gets a second letter.\u00a0 This one advises her that she is pre-scheduled (what\u2019s the purpose of the \u201cpre\u201d here) for a \u2018pacemaker check\u2019 at 2 PM on January 6th<\/sup> 2010 and failure to appear could cost her $100.\u00a0 Okay, they provide a number to call to alter this.\u00a0 Hello, hospital!\u00a0 She is in the ICU.\u00a0 She is going to get a permanent pacemaker on Monday.\u00a0 The one this letter is about \u2013 we\u2019ll send it back in a plastic bag for you to check.\u00a0 (Rant off.)<\/p>\n Finally \u2013 if you are still with me \u2013 the ICU discourages visitors.\u00a0 In Nancy\u2019s case she is quite able to have visitors but people in nearby rooms are very seriously ill.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So, no visits, please, as requested by the ICU nurses.<\/p>\n There was heavy fog today.\u00a0 They closed I-82 for a time but I apparently passed the exit they were to set up at before the police got there.\u00a0 When I came down off the last ridge into our valley I could see the flashing police car lights blocking the south-bound lanes.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nancy was doing fine today and from Noon to about 2 o\u2019clock we visited and looked at Christmas cards and she wrote short notes on the bottom of letters I\u2019ll mail to family and friends for whom I haven\u2019t found e-mail addresses.\u00a0 One procedure, done before I arrived, was the withdrawal of 800 ml of … Continue reading “FRIDAY contrasts”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p72iNf-1e","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}