Husband update
I alluded to this in my CSA post, but Lou had a sudden health issue spring up during a routine follow-up with his doctor on Wednesday.
His blood pressure was a little high when he went to see his primary care physician for a routine physical a few months ago, so she wanted him to follow up. He tells her that he had a bit of lightheadedness a few weeks ago, but felt fine right after. He wasn't sure if it was low blood sugar, or something else. She was concerned about the blood pressure then, so she ran an EKG. And then tells him she wants him to go to the ER, as his pulse rate was high and his beats were irregular, I guess.
He calls me, and I'm awake (thankfully, more on that later), and tells me this, in his "I'm going to remain calm, because if I don't remain calm right now, I will freak the fuck out, and I don't want my loved ones to see this" voice. It's rare that he uses it, because it's rare that he gets freaked out, but I've heard it before, so I know what it sounds like. I am dealing okay with this, and get dressed and actually beat him to the hospital, even though I went to get cash, back to the house to get some changes of underwear for him (and that's an adventure, trying to find it). He went to Rhode Island Hospital, instead of the local Charlton, likely because his doctor is in RI. He didn't know he COULD have gone to Charlton until he was AT RI Hospital. :( And Charlton has a top-rate cardiac center too. :(
Anyway, we finally meet up, and they have him all wired to the gills, and start giving him some IV meds as well as pill (Diltiazem). It brings it down some, yay. They start him on a low dose, because they're not sure how he'll react (I find out later from his mother that she had an allergic reaction to this med, an all-over-body rash). But it works...somewhat. He tells them repeatedly that he feels fine, no pain, no tightness, no light-headedness, etc.
It doesn't come down enough for him to go into a normal room, though. They keep him in the ER, trying to get it down below 130, as that's apparently the rate at which they can move him. But it stops cooperating at some point, and won't stay that low. He'll have to go into the cardiac care unit for more monitoring.
Meanwhile, I have to work at midnight! See, I just this week started full-time at my job, since the guy who works third shift left. He worked midnight to 8:30, and they asked if I wanted to take his shift. So yeah, I'm due at work at midnight and my husband still doesn't have a room.
I leave at 11:30 (still am late to work because I go home and change and prep a snack, but I warned them), and he texts me at 1:30 to tell me his room number. The rest of the morning passes boringly at work, and he texts me when he wakes up. He doesn't know what is planned, but will get in touch with me when he does. I go home and go to sleep somewhat (just a few hours, sadly).
He says they're going to try to regulate with the meds today (this being Thursday), and if it goes well, he can go home. If not, then they'll try the procedure on Friday. Okay, so yay, he can eat today. I go up and visit him, and he seems in good spirits. I note his heart rate monitor doesn't dip much below 100 though, hovering mainly around 120. :( A friend comes by to visit while I'm there, so we chat for a bit. He leaves, and then I leave to go pick up his mom to take her to somewhere (she just had her meniscus repaired, so can't drive, and Lou had promised to drive her before all this shit happened, so I volunteered). He goes to bed and I go home and try to sleep a bit before work (bad idea, I don't fall asleep until 10:30 with the alarm set for 11:00, and I'm wicked fucking tired when it goes off).
Work happens, and Lou sleeps in this morning and calls me late, which means yay, he slept in. No idea what will happen, the doctor made rounds, but no decision that he knew of. I go home, go to bed, with him saying he'll call me in a few hours when he knows more.
At about 1:00, something makes a text noise. It shouldn't be my phone, as it's set for DND from 9-5, with only favorites allowed through, and these's a text, but not from Lou. It's possibly my iPad, which is not in DND mode but does have Messaging turned on again, is what I heard. But I look at my phone, and my m-i-l texed me at 9:15, and my nephew just a bit ago. I reply back to both of them (nephew is relaying stuff to my mom), which is bascially I know nothing new.
Not a minute after, Lou calls me. He says they're going to do the procedure now, and he should be done by 3:30, so I can plan on being up there for then. I make such plans.
I know that they will be knocking him out for this, we know that much from our discussion with the nurse yesterday. They were going to give him a tracheal ECG first, which requires the sedation, and then do the procedure after.
I get up there for 3:30, and he's not back. He doesn't get back until about 4:15, and he's fine and chipper. I learn from him after all this that they basically showed up at 1:00, ready to take him to the procedure, without ever even TALKING TO HIM ABOUT IT. Thankfully, he's a good man, and put his foot down and said they weren't taking him anywhere until the cardiac doctor came and spoke to him. Which she did, and she apologized for not getting back to him, she meant to, but had just forgotten.
All that done, they brought him out to where it was being done, and then after a bit, moved him to another area, because of his weight and his beard, they wanted the anesthesiologist to do the stuff necessary. Turns out they didn't knock him out with whatever is usually done, they just sedated him and then used propofol (the stuff that kills Michael Jackson because it was misused), and he was out. No big recovery time with being disoriented either, so he liked that a lot (they do that when he has had his lithotripsies, so he knows what it's like). So he was coherent and such, so I stayed with him, chilling, watching TV. He got dinner, and then I realized I should get going home, so I did.
I texted everyone I thought of to let them know he made it through okay. It was SUCH a relief once he got hooked back up to the monitors in his room to see his heart rate staying in the 80s, and the beats much more relaxed and regular. If all goes well tonight, he'll be home tomorrow.
His blood pressure was a little high when he went to see his primary care physician for a routine physical a few months ago, so she wanted him to follow up. He tells her that he had a bit of lightheadedness a few weeks ago, but felt fine right after. He wasn't sure if it was low blood sugar, or something else. She was concerned about the blood pressure then, so she ran an EKG. And then tells him she wants him to go to the ER, as his pulse rate was high and his beats were irregular, I guess.
He calls me, and I'm awake (thankfully, more on that later), and tells me this, in his "I'm going to remain calm, because if I don't remain calm right now, I will freak the fuck out, and I don't want my loved ones to see this" voice. It's rare that he uses it, because it's rare that he gets freaked out, but I've heard it before, so I know what it sounds like. I am dealing okay with this, and get dressed and actually beat him to the hospital, even though I went to get cash, back to the house to get some changes of underwear for him (and that's an adventure, trying to find it). He went to Rhode Island Hospital, instead of the local Charlton, likely because his doctor is in RI. He didn't know he COULD have gone to Charlton until he was AT RI Hospital. :( And Charlton has a top-rate cardiac center too. :(
Anyway, we finally meet up, and they have him all wired to the gills, and start giving him some IV meds as well as pill (Diltiazem). It brings it down some, yay. They start him on a low dose, because they're not sure how he'll react (I find out later from his mother that she had an allergic reaction to this med, an all-over-body rash). But it works...somewhat. He tells them repeatedly that he feels fine, no pain, no tightness, no light-headedness, etc.
It doesn't come down enough for him to go into a normal room, though. They keep him in the ER, trying to get it down below 130, as that's apparently the rate at which they can move him. But it stops cooperating at some point, and won't stay that low. He'll have to go into the cardiac care unit for more monitoring.
Meanwhile, I have to work at midnight! See, I just this week started full-time at my job, since the guy who works third shift left. He worked midnight to 8:30, and they asked if I wanted to take his shift. So yeah, I'm due at work at midnight and my husband still doesn't have a room.
I leave at 11:30 (still am late to work because I go home and change and prep a snack, but I warned them), and he texts me at 1:30 to tell me his room number. The rest of the morning passes boringly at work, and he texts me when he wakes up. He doesn't know what is planned, but will get in touch with me when he does. I go home and go to sleep somewhat (just a few hours, sadly).
He says they're going to try to regulate with the meds today (this being Thursday), and if it goes well, he can go home. If not, then they'll try the procedure on Friday. Okay, so yay, he can eat today. I go up and visit him, and he seems in good spirits. I note his heart rate monitor doesn't dip much below 100 though, hovering mainly around 120. :( A friend comes by to visit while I'm there, so we chat for a bit. He leaves, and then I leave to go pick up his mom to take her to somewhere (she just had her meniscus repaired, so can't drive, and Lou had promised to drive her before all this shit happened, so I volunteered). He goes to bed and I go home and try to sleep a bit before work (bad idea, I don't fall asleep until 10:30 with the alarm set for 11:00, and I'm wicked fucking tired when it goes off).
Work happens, and Lou sleeps in this morning and calls me late, which means yay, he slept in. No idea what will happen, the doctor made rounds, but no decision that he knew of. I go home, go to bed, with him saying he'll call me in a few hours when he knows more.
At about 1:00, something makes a text noise. It shouldn't be my phone, as it's set for DND from 9-5, with only favorites allowed through, and these's a text, but not from Lou. It's possibly my iPad, which is not in DND mode but does have Messaging turned on again, is what I heard. But I look at my phone, and my m-i-l texed me at 9:15, and my nephew just a bit ago. I reply back to both of them (nephew is relaying stuff to my mom), which is bascially I know nothing new.
Not a minute after, Lou calls me. He says they're going to do the procedure now, and he should be done by 3:30, so I can plan on being up there for then. I make such plans.
I know that they will be knocking him out for this, we know that much from our discussion with the nurse yesterday. They were going to give him a tracheal ECG first, which requires the sedation, and then do the procedure after.
I get up there for 3:30, and he's not back. He doesn't get back until about 4:15, and he's fine and chipper. I learn from him after all this that they basically showed up at 1:00, ready to take him to the procedure, without ever even TALKING TO HIM ABOUT IT. Thankfully, he's a good man, and put his foot down and said they weren't taking him anywhere until the cardiac doctor came and spoke to him. Which she did, and she apologized for not getting back to him, she meant to, but had just forgotten.
All that done, they brought him out to where it was being done, and then after a bit, moved him to another area, because of his weight and his beard, they wanted the anesthesiologist to do the stuff necessary. Turns out they didn't knock him out with whatever is usually done, they just sedated him and then used propofol (the stuff that kills Michael Jackson because it was misused), and he was out. No big recovery time with being disoriented either, so he liked that a lot (they do that when he has had his lithotripsies, so he knows what it's like). So he was coherent and such, so I stayed with him, chilling, watching TV. He got dinner, and then I realized I should get going home, so I did.
I texted everyone I thought of to let them know he made it through okay. It was SUCH a relief once he got hooked back up to the monitors in his room to see his heart rate staying in the 80s, and the beats much more relaxed and regular. If all goes well tonight, he'll be home tomorrow.