Thursday, December 27, 2018

I tried to post during the day yesterday at the hospital, but they are upgrading the internet (yay) so I couldn't get a good connection.

Bill was awake all night again, but nursing was better. Nikki looked at his chart and then told me the times he was due things. It turned out she would be in about every 2 hours, mainly for hanging meds. But, she used only the light that came in the windows from the hallway and didn't turn on any lights unless absolutely necessary, like cleaning him up after a bowel movement. Even when she needed help they both spoke in very soft voices, so even though I was aware most of the times someone else was in the room, I slept much better than the night before. I did ask Nikki if Bill slept any and she said no, he was awake all night.

He was junky again yesterday, so another broncoscopy was done. Dr. Munday did this one before rounds and I had breakfast and was back in his room at 8:30 and he was already awake. I don't know what sedative Dr. Munday uses compared to Dr. Williams, but it isn't versed, or at least not as much. I thought that Bill would again sleep  most of the day because of that and staying awake all night, but he did not. He catnapped for awhile.

Cindy, the cardiology nurse practitioner, asked him if he knew the people in the room with him when Mary-Rose and Jack and the kids were there and he nodded and mouthed "William and Petra". It was very clear to both me and Mary. He's been trying to talk so hard and we just can't understand him.

While we went to lunch and then saw them off, PT came in and I think Bill was trying to tell me that they wanted to talk to me. He kept saying "you" but I don't know what else he meant. Jacque did come back in and told me that he did work really hard moving his arms and legs and hands for her, but he drew the line at sitting on the edge of the bed. Maybe because it was only the two of them and he was afraid of falling. She said she really wanted him in the chair, but because all of the nurses were busy at the time, she didn't want to try to transfer him herself. But she was impressed with how hard he tried.

He's done a lot more spontaneous moving around, and he's been shifting in the bed more so they aren't turning him as much. They try but he manages to get back into a comfy position.

We're still waiting on podiatry to come, unless they came after I left yesterday afternoon. I left a little earlier than usual since I was so tired. Talked to Joe and Barb and Paul (our behind neighbor) for a bit. We all met taking out the trash! 

I don't remember if I told what Dr. Williams said. Because Bill keeps breathing fast, he doesn't want him back on the trach collar until his respirations are below 30. He's been staying in the mid 30s and that's really double what he should be breathing. His blood pressure has been a little erratic again, so more albumin to build volume, but no blood, and no Levaphed. 

While I was in the cafeteria yesterday morning, I started thinking about all of these bronchs. I don't know how many times they can be done without causing damage, but he's having them every 4-5 days because the secretions are so thick they clog the trach cannula and he's having to be suctioned so much. In my fatigue laden brain, it finally broke through that he was on Musinex twice a day to keep the secretions thin before. So I asked Dr. Munday about that when I got back upstairs and he said that could definitely be tired. He wanted to try a breathing treatment using just warm saline first but if that didn't work, then go to the musinex IV. So, if they do that, maybe the secretions will stay thin enough he will be able to cough them out and the bronchs can be done less frequently.

I don't think he has anything scheduled for today, other than his daily chest x-ray. As far as I know there was no fever yesterday. Dr. Threlkeld was back and he was going to look at everything and see if he concurred. I ran into him again as I was leaving and he said get some sleep, so I must have looked as tired as I felt. But, had a quiet night and went to bed early and slept better than my usual 2 hours at a time. 

And now I'd better get a move on. I had wanted to leave at 6, but I'm not dressed yet, and I have 5 minutes, so I don't think I'll make it. It's warm and very windy and going to be rainy so it will be a very fun drive, I'm sure. And I have to make a stop for gas first. Glad I bought the donuts last night!

I'm not taking the computer today, too much to lug around. So, I'll get back to the regular schedule of updates now. All for this morning, gotta get a move on!

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