Friday morning wasn't so grand for one member of the family. The Mister had had a terrible night. He awoke several times coughing, and was finding it hard to catch his breath. The pulse oximeter showed his blood gas levels to be in the 70's. Not good. He does have an oxygen generator, and pushing that to the max of the oxygen level it could deliver, his pulse ox came up to 91. Still not good. And....we were on our way to the ER.
There was nary a person in the ER waiting room when we arrive around 8:30. I was so excited - evidently his problems were not going to take as long to be addressed as in past visits. The Mister barely sat down after registering before they called his hame. He was taken into the triage room, and after initial basic medical procedures, was hustled into the back. That's when I realized my excitement was for naught. Every bed, every gurney, every chair was occupied by people at various levels of distress.
The Mister was assigned to chair #3. He was promptly hooked up to oxygen and monitors. I was impressed with the quick attention he received, despite the crowd of otherwise needy folks.
The phlebotomist (I love saying that word, and I'm thrilled that I can spell it - without spell check!) attacked promptly. He efficiently jabbed an IV line into the crook of the Mister's arm...and although it worked to draw blood, it became very painful. At a later blood draw the line was removed, and then later still, it was replaced with an IV line in the back of his hand.
But wait....that's not all! In the first 3 hours of our visit different folks came and drew blood six different times! Some of the tests could not be drawn from the IV line.
The Mister had been fighting a stubborn UTI, and it prevailed. He also had pneumonia. One wonders if the bacteria from the UTI attacked his lungs. They also tested for sepsis. Twice he's had sepsis following a UTI and pneumonia. Luckily, the sepsis tests (two bottles with blood, drawn as a 'clean draw' from both arms) were negative.
The Mister received breathing treatments, antibiotics, steroids and who knows what! He did begin to feel better within an hour because of the cocktail of drugs. But....they admitted him. After about 8 hours in the chair he moved up the chain to a curtained cubicle around the corner. And finally, as it turned dark, they found a bed upstairs. Where he 'lived' until Sunday evening.
He's home. He's feeling much better, but has been cautioned to take it easy. Life is going back to our usual patterns.
Oh my, frightening. I hope he does take it easy and allows himself to recover. Pneumonia is not good. As we do know.
ReplyDeleteHoly Pincushion, Batman! The Mister must have felt like a pincushion after all of those blood draws. OUCH! Am glad the cocktail of medicines have helped him feel lots better and hope the germs are being defeated. Wishing you both well.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
I'm glad you didn't have to wait 275 hours for assistance and that he's home and on the mend. My father in law was in the hospital last week with a UTI/pneumonia, too. He's also home now.
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