All good things must come to an end. We haven't had a good week. We went to Kiyann's birthday party Saturday afternoon, and early Monday morning, I woke up with diarrhea. I wasn't nauseous, just felt all over lousy. Luckily, Bill was fine and I was wracking my brain trying to figure what I had eaten that he hadn't, and we had eaten the same things, all 3 meals. I felt better Tuesday and by Tuesday afternoon felt absolutely fine, as if nothing had happened. I talked to Mistie that afternoon and she said she and her mother had both done the same thing. They were thinking it might have been all the sugar icing on the birthday cake. There was a lot of it, but Bill's piece had more than mine, so go figure.

Wednesday was Bill's appointment with the pulmonologist. She heard a little congestion and a slight wheeze but wasn't real concerned, just said to keep an eye on it and that if he coughed anything up to look at it for color. She also wants him to start taking 1/2 a Zyrtek to see if that will help with his nasal drip. We started that last night and it helped through the night, but didn't last for the 24 hours so he may need the full dose. We'll give it a few days.

We also talked about the problems with the oxygen the last 2 trips we've made and she's going to get us set up to rent the portable concentrators. I told her I had tried to get one before we went to Florida the last time and she just looked at me and said "But I haven't called them". She was going to get them going on it immediately since we go back to Florida in November. So, we shall see. I did find one that can handle the flow that he is on, and the purchase cost ranges from $2000 to $6000. The difference is just who it is purchased from. The weekly rental rate is $500 and $70/day. We're actually considering purchasing it since we know we will use it more than just the 2 trips to Florida and the rentals would really add up. We will probably try the rental first to see how it works out.

Thursday night Bill was short of breath after he walked to the bedroom and he had been coughing even more and had to use his rescue inhaler. He also had to use it this morning and was winded walking into the kitchen. I told him I thought he needed to have a chest x-ray to make sure there wasn't anything brewing, so off to the dr. we went this morning. Sure enough, there was some haziness at the bottom of his lungs. Right now the diagnosis is bronchitis since we caught it very early. Connie (the nurse practitioner) said his wheeze was not slight now. So, antibiotics and steroids for a few days and started breathing treatments again. I could tell Bill didn't feel real well this afternoon. He was pale and his lips were nearly colorless, but after supper he looked a little better. He's now had one dose of prednisone and 2 doses of the antibiotic and 2 breathing treatments. He's already gone to bed and I may follow before long. He goes back to the dr. on Monday morning to see if things look any better.

He choked a couple of times this week, which is something we have to watch for since he was on the vent and had the trach so long. Those muscles forget to work at times. I'm thinking that one of those times he may have aspirated whatever it was a little which was causing the problem. 

So, this was not how I wanted to celebrate my birthday. We had planned to go to Jonesboro to get my diamonds inspected and then have dinner out. They have so many more nice places than here. But, I think we're going to wait until he's all clear. Connie told him no exercising until she sees him again to see how his breathing is.

I'll throw in an extra post after he sees the dr. on Monday to let you know how things are going. Until Monday...