helluva week
Took off last weekend (over Mother's Day) as Friday 8th was a comp day for working Sunday 3rd. I had originally planned to take Monday 11th as a vacation day, being as it's interim and there was nothing going on at work that day, but it ended up being a sick day.
Breathless woke up Sunday morning and showered and dressed while I rode my bike 9.5 miles. When I got home, he said he was feeling sick to his stomach, probably from all the mucous he coughs up from his allergies.
On Monday he continued to feel bad, and would periodically break out in a cold sweat. He didn't tell me that when he was spitting up the mucous, his stomach was cramping violently. Late in the afternoon, he said he was having black, sticky bowel movements. He called the doctor and they said to come in the next day for a stool sample kit.
On Tuesday I needed to go to work, mostly because my annual performance evaluation was scheduled for 9 AM (my boss wasn't ready and it was postponed). Breathless called me about 11:30, saying he was now so weak he literally had to crawl around the house. I told him to call the doctor to get an appointment, and I headed straight home.
By the time we got to the doctor at 1:30, he couldn't walk - I had to get a wheelchair to take him in. His blood pressure was just about nonexistant and a stat blood test showed an extremely low hematocrit/hemoglobin - all together, signs of a GI bleed. Although the doctor's office is right next door to the hospital, they called an ambulance to transport him. A plus about going to his internist first was that Breathless was directly admitted to the ICU, bypassing the emergency room.
He needed FOUR units of blood - 80% replacement. They also kept him hooked to an IV with a proton pump inhibitor to turn off stomach acid. Naturally this meant he couldn't eat and only sip at water and ice chips.
On Wednesday around noon a gastroenterologist did an endoscopy and found the ulcer in the stomach. It was bleeding profusely; he had to inject some drug first to slow it down enough to find the actual hole and clip it shut. Yup, that's all they do, clip it and leave it to heal, and the clips eventually fall off and pass out naturally. The procedure took all of 30 minutes and the anesthetic was such that Breathless was not totally "out" but he had no memory of the procedure.
We'd hoped he'd get to go home on Thursday, but his red blood cell count was still too low, so he did not get to go home until Friday. It's still lower than it should be - he's anemic - so he is taking iron along with the protein pump inhibitor. Also no aspirin for blood thinning or NSAIDs for sinus or arthritis or other pain. However, there aren't really any limitations on what he can eat.
You're supposed to leave the ICU between 6-8 AM and 6-8 PM during shift changes, but I think the nurses found me to be helpful, as that rule was only enforced with me on Tuesday evening. The night nurse he had the first two nights was particularly nice; a Tarleton grad. I dozed in a chair in the room the first night (VERY uncomfortable) but felt comfortable enough with her the second night that I went home and slept from about 1-8 AM. The third night, he'd been given Ativan, which (unlike morphine the previous two nights) did not help him sleep but instead made him very twitchy while trying to sleep, so I did not leave until 3 AM when most of its effects seemed to have worn off and he was sleeping more soundly.
We went to bed at home Friday at 8 PM, slept until about 3 AM (allergies again - a Singulair helped - plus a thunderstorm), back to bed at 6 AM and finally got up at 10 AM. Went to bed just before midnight Saturday and didn't get up until 10 AM again. I finally feel caught up on sleep.
Breathless is doing well - rather weak, and gets out of breath easily when he exerts himself due to the anemia. He has a follow-up with his internist this Thursday. The hospitalist said it was OK to travel but we decided to postpone the trip to New York City by a week and shorten it, to allow a full two weeks to recover from the procedure before going. We'll be gone May 30 through June 3.
Breathless woke up Sunday morning and showered and dressed while I rode my bike 9.5 miles. When I got home, he said he was feeling sick to his stomach, probably from all the mucous he coughs up from his allergies.
On Monday he continued to feel bad, and would periodically break out in a cold sweat. He didn't tell me that when he was spitting up the mucous, his stomach was cramping violently. Late in the afternoon, he said he was having black, sticky bowel movements. He called the doctor and they said to come in the next day for a stool sample kit.
On Tuesday I needed to go to work, mostly because my annual performance evaluation was scheduled for 9 AM (my boss wasn't ready and it was postponed). Breathless called me about 11:30, saying he was now so weak he literally had to crawl around the house. I told him to call the doctor to get an appointment, and I headed straight home.
By the time we got to the doctor at 1:30, he couldn't walk - I had to get a wheelchair to take him in. His blood pressure was just about nonexistant and a stat blood test showed an extremely low hematocrit/hemoglobin - all together, signs of a GI bleed. Although the doctor's office is right next door to the hospital, they called an ambulance to transport him. A plus about going to his internist first was that Breathless was directly admitted to the ICU, bypassing the emergency room.
He needed FOUR units of blood - 80% replacement. They also kept him hooked to an IV with a proton pump inhibitor to turn off stomach acid. Naturally this meant he couldn't eat and only sip at water and ice chips.
On Wednesday around noon a gastroenterologist did an endoscopy and found the ulcer in the stomach. It was bleeding profusely; he had to inject some drug first to slow it down enough to find the actual hole and clip it shut. Yup, that's all they do, clip it and leave it to heal, and the clips eventually fall off and pass out naturally. The procedure took all of 30 minutes and the anesthetic was such that Breathless was not totally "out" but he had no memory of the procedure.
We'd hoped he'd get to go home on Thursday, but his red blood cell count was still too low, so he did not get to go home until Friday. It's still lower than it should be - he's anemic - so he is taking iron along with the protein pump inhibitor. Also no aspirin for blood thinning or NSAIDs for sinus or arthritis or other pain. However, there aren't really any limitations on what he can eat.
You're supposed to leave the ICU between 6-8 AM and 6-8 PM during shift changes, but I think the nurses found me to be helpful, as that rule was only enforced with me on Tuesday evening. The night nurse he had the first two nights was particularly nice; a Tarleton grad. I dozed in a chair in the room the first night (VERY uncomfortable) but felt comfortable enough with her the second night that I went home and slept from about 1-8 AM. The third night, he'd been given Ativan, which (unlike morphine the previous two nights) did not help him sleep but instead made him very twitchy while trying to sleep, so I did not leave until 3 AM when most of its effects seemed to have worn off and he was sleeping more soundly.
We went to bed at home Friday at 8 PM, slept until about 3 AM (allergies again - a Singulair helped - plus a thunderstorm), back to bed at 6 AM and finally got up at 10 AM. Went to bed just before midnight Saturday and didn't get up until 10 AM again. I finally feel caught up on sleep.
Breathless is doing well - rather weak, and gets out of breath easily when he exerts himself due to the anemia. He has a follow-up with his internist this Thursday. The hospitalist said it was OK to travel but we decided to postpone the trip to New York City by a week and shorten it, to allow a full two weeks to recover from the procedure before going. We'll be gone May 30 through June 3.