Hospital stay
Longish, it was a busy time.
Left home, where Lori lives, at about 7:30
Arrived in Dayton at Karens at about 10:30.
Got out of the car, walked around the back of the car, and all of a sudden, it felt like I was freezing to death, like it was 20 below.
Got into the apartment, and kissed Karen hi, which would later cause me much concern.
Tried to warm up, couldn't do it.
Had a really long hot shower, got sorta warm.
Sat down with a blanket, then added a heating pad.
Then I started to salivate a lot. For me, this is an extremely reliable indicator that I'm going to vomit.
Spent the rest of the time till about 1 AM getting quickly worse, choking and gagging and throwing up. Karen tried her best to help, hauling very icky buckets and at one point went out to buy a thermometer, where we found out that I was over 103 degrees.
We called my mother, and then 911 at about 2:30 am.
Ambulance guys arrive and wanted to take me out without a shirt on, Karen threw something over me, and off we went. Karen followed in her car.
One reason we called 911 is that they get you right into the ER, instead of having to wait and wait, and so I ended up in room 20 at about 3 am.
I was very worried that the hospital wouldn't let her in, since she isn't officially "family", so I made it very clear to the ER folks. "Karen is to be treated in all respects equally to my wife. If you throw her out, I will leave, if I have to crawl out."
Apparently they took me seriously, but I kept repeating that as we went through the different Drs and other question-askers.
Of course they asked the usual barrage of questions, and I did the best I could, but Karen stepped in an helped with most of it, since I was hard pressed to get out more than one or two words at a time. They had a lot of confusion over the fact that "home" is in Muncie Indiana, and I live in Pittsburgh, and I was here in Dayton.. We tried to explain, and we told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Eyebrows were raised.
They gave me anti-nausea and pain meds that really helped, and started me on IV fluids to make up for the loss, I was severely dehydrated when admitted.
In the end, around 8 or 9 am, they admitted me to the hospital, room 313.
Karen stayed a while, but finally had to go home and rest. I was doing ok.
The doctors came in, ordered a bunch of tests.
The fever was gradually dropping, and they had a chiller unit standing by to literally refrigerate me if the fever went too high again. I felt better, and had some sips of water and a little ice sometimes.
Trouble was brewing though..
Karen came out again, and stayed a good long time, but I had to sleep, and the meds were knocking me out again, so she left around 6 PM.
I tried to sleep, but I couldn't really get to sleep for more than a few seconds, before waking up again. I was totally miserable, and the room next door had noisy visitors having a loud conversation in the hall right outside my door, till sometime after 11 PM. I kept trying to sleep, adding more pain meds, no luck at all.
What I hadn't noticed, was that even when Karen was there, I was breathing fast and shallow.
About 3 AM, I finally realized that I was constantly panting for breath, and that was why I couldn't sleep! I'd had something similar to this when I had pancreatitis, where they had to give me everything by IV, and I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for 15 weeks.
This scared the hell out of me, I thought I was going back into pancreatitis, but what was actually happening was much more threatening.
I called the nurse, and told her that I was loosing my ability to breathe.
They rushed in some other folks, and one or two residents, and put me on O2.
At this point, my oxygen saturation was 80%, and heart rate and BP were way up.
We tried 4 liters/min at first, but had to go up to 6L/min before my saturation levels came up near normal. Somewhere around 6 we had things under control, and worked out that the constant saline IV at 150mL/Hr was causing excess fluid to come out inside my lungs, and was drowning me! They terminated the fluid push.
I called Karen, she came out again, and I spent a very drained and miserable day recovering from this. By the end of the day though, I was down to 4L/min, and I had my first good night of sleep.
Karen talked to my mother, and found out that my mother (Helen) and sister (Susan) were planning to come out. Lori wasn't sure that she could leave the kids, but she wanted to come.
I got a new doctor monday too, the hospital switches doctors on the end of the month. The new Dr came in, and we got off to a rough start, since he started asking me the same questions I'd been asked over and over. I was feeling horrible, and felt like the least he could do was to read the damned chart. I'm sure there were reasons that he was asking, but I had no patience or energy to think that way at the time. He also scared the hell out of me by saying that he would take me off the oxygen. What he meant was that he would WEAN me off the O2, but that's not what he said, and I panicked.
Also, the explosive diahrea had started. I now had to pee into a bottle and shit into a bowl at the same time, while weak as a kitten, dizzy, and trying to not make a huge mess.
Through the day, we worked my oxygen down to 2L/M
I also had my first attempt at a meal, an orange Jello for lunch, and some grilled tilapia and chicken and rice soup for dinner. I didn't finish my dinner, but it did stay DOWN, and I felt better after getting food.
Slept well again, which was wonderful.
Mom, Susan, and Lori sneak into my room pretty early.
Knowing my sister, I waited and pretended to be asleep, thinking that she'd try to do something devilish, but I got tired of waiting, and just sat up.
We talked for a while, then Karen arrived. That was a great day, despite IV failures, more diahrea, and more tests.
Escape day!
My Dr finally let me go, with more meds, and some tests to get done.
It seems I'm a diabetic now, and we have some other issues to find out about, but I was VERY ready to go. About 6 PM they finally cut me loose, and Mom, Lori and Susan went back to Muncie, leaving me in Karens care for the next few days, till I can get rested up for the trip back to Pittsburgh.
Mom had met Karen over a year ago. Susan knew about her, but hadn't met her. They both told Karen how grateful they were that she was taking care of me, and how wonderful it is that Karen is in my life. Mom can't endorse poly, but she sees that it's working for us, and she's very glad of that.
Lori is more reserved about her feelings, but she is glad for the same reasons, and this seems to have been a "growing closer" for her and Karen. Lori still has times that she feels that there's a "competition" between her and Karen, even though she knows that isn't the case.
Progress has been made.
So now I'm sitting at Karens, resting up, and feeling pretty good. Getting used to my new meds, and so very appreciative of my extended family.
Oh: I didn't want to leave Donna out of this. She's in Pittsburgh, and wasn't able to come out. She worried a lot, and I tried to keep her updated too as best I could. If it had been Donna taking care of me, I wouldn't have had to worry about them not letting her in. She'd drill through the wall if she had to.. :)
Left home, where Lori lives, at about 7:30
Arrived in Dayton at Karens at about 10:30.
Got out of the car, walked around the back of the car, and all of a sudden, it felt like I was freezing to death, like it was 20 below.
Got into the apartment, and kissed Karen hi, which would later cause me much concern.
Tried to warm up, couldn't do it.
Had a really long hot shower, got sorta warm.
Sat down with a blanket, then added a heating pad.
Then I started to salivate a lot. For me, this is an extremely reliable indicator that I'm going to vomit.
Spent the rest of the time till about 1 AM getting quickly worse, choking and gagging and throwing up. Karen tried her best to help, hauling very icky buckets and at one point went out to buy a thermometer, where we found out that I was over 103 degrees.
We called my mother, and then 911 at about 2:30 am.
Ambulance guys arrive and wanted to take me out without a shirt on, Karen threw something over me, and off we went. Karen followed in her car.
One reason we called 911 is that they get you right into the ER, instead of having to wait and wait, and so I ended up in room 20 at about 3 am.
I was very worried that the hospital wouldn't let her in, since she isn't officially "family", so I made it very clear to the ER folks. "Karen is to be treated in all respects equally to my wife. If you throw her out, I will leave, if I have to crawl out."
Apparently they took me seriously, but I kept repeating that as we went through the different Drs and other question-askers.
Of course they asked the usual barrage of questions, and I did the best I could, but Karen stepped in an helped with most of it, since I was hard pressed to get out more than one or two words at a time. They had a lot of confusion over the fact that "home" is in Muncie Indiana, and I live in Pittsburgh, and I was here in Dayton.. We tried to explain, and we told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Eyebrows were raised.
They gave me anti-nausea and pain meds that really helped, and started me on IV fluids to make up for the loss, I was severely dehydrated when admitted.
In the end, around 8 or 9 am, they admitted me to the hospital, room 313.
Karen stayed a while, but finally had to go home and rest. I was doing ok.
The doctors came in, ordered a bunch of tests.
The fever was gradually dropping, and they had a chiller unit standing by to literally refrigerate me if the fever went too high again. I felt better, and had some sips of water and a little ice sometimes.
Trouble was brewing though..
Karen came out again, and stayed a good long time, but I had to sleep, and the meds were knocking me out again, so she left around 6 PM.
I tried to sleep, but I couldn't really get to sleep for more than a few seconds, before waking up again. I was totally miserable, and the room next door had noisy visitors having a loud conversation in the hall right outside my door, till sometime after 11 PM. I kept trying to sleep, adding more pain meds, no luck at all.
What I hadn't noticed, was that even when Karen was there, I was breathing fast and shallow.
About 3 AM, I finally realized that I was constantly panting for breath, and that was why I couldn't sleep! I'd had something similar to this when I had pancreatitis, where they had to give me everything by IV, and I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for 15 weeks.
This scared the hell out of me, I thought I was going back into pancreatitis, but what was actually happening was much more threatening.
I called the nurse, and told her that I was loosing my ability to breathe.
They rushed in some other folks, and one or two residents, and put me on O2.
At this point, my oxygen saturation was 80%, and heart rate and BP were way up.
We tried 4 liters/min at first, but had to go up to 6L/min before my saturation levels came up near normal. Somewhere around 6 we had things under control, and worked out that the constant saline IV at 150mL/Hr was causing excess fluid to come out inside my lungs, and was drowning me! They terminated the fluid push.
I called Karen, she came out again, and I spent a very drained and miserable day recovering from this. By the end of the day though, I was down to 4L/min, and I had my first good night of sleep.
Karen talked to my mother, and found out that my mother (Helen) and sister (Susan) were planning to come out. Lori wasn't sure that she could leave the kids, but she wanted to come.
I got a new doctor monday too, the hospital switches doctors on the end of the month. The new Dr came in, and we got off to a rough start, since he started asking me the same questions I'd been asked over and over. I was feeling horrible, and felt like the least he could do was to read the damned chart. I'm sure there were reasons that he was asking, but I had no patience or energy to think that way at the time. He also scared the hell out of me by saying that he would take me off the oxygen. What he meant was that he would WEAN me off the O2, but that's not what he said, and I panicked.
Also, the explosive diahrea had started. I now had to pee into a bottle and shit into a bowl at the same time, while weak as a kitten, dizzy, and trying to not make a huge mess.
Through the day, we worked my oxygen down to 2L/M
I also had my first attempt at a meal, an orange Jello for lunch, and some grilled tilapia and chicken and rice soup for dinner. I didn't finish my dinner, but it did stay DOWN, and I felt better after getting food.
Slept well again, which was wonderful.
Mom, Susan, and Lori sneak into my room pretty early.
Knowing my sister, I waited and pretended to be asleep, thinking that she'd try to do something devilish, but I got tired of waiting, and just sat up.
We talked for a while, then Karen arrived. That was a great day, despite IV failures, more diahrea, and more tests.
Escape day!
My Dr finally let me go, with more meds, and some tests to get done.
It seems I'm a diabetic now, and we have some other issues to find out about, but I was VERY ready to go. About 6 PM they finally cut me loose, and Mom, Lori and Susan went back to Muncie, leaving me in Karens care for the next few days, till I can get rested up for the trip back to Pittsburgh.
Mom had met Karen over a year ago. Susan knew about her, but hadn't met her. They both told Karen how grateful they were that she was taking care of me, and how wonderful it is that Karen is in my life. Mom can't endorse poly, but she sees that it's working for us, and she's very glad of that.
Lori is more reserved about her feelings, but she is glad for the same reasons, and this seems to have been a "growing closer" for her and Karen. Lori still has times that she feels that there's a "competition" between her and Karen, even though she knows that isn't the case.
Progress has been made.
So now I'm sitting at Karens, resting up, and feeling pretty good. Getting used to my new meds, and so very appreciative of my extended family.
Oh: I didn't want to leave Donna out of this. She's in Pittsburgh, and wasn't able to come out. She worried a lot, and I tried to keep her updated too as best I could. If it had been Donna taking care of me, I wouldn't have had to worry about them not letting her in. She'd drill through the wall if she had to.. :)