Well, today did not go well. And no-one is sure why. Bill was still asleep when I got there at 7:30 and was getting a breathing treatment. Usually, even if he's getting a treatment, he's awake. But not this morning. I did find that his oxygen had been turned down to 40 this morning and if he maintained his sats, Andrea would start reducing the flow. She said she was surprised to see that he was still at 50 liters.

His nurse said that the night nurse said he slept all night, and he had told her to leave him alone. Yet, he said that he didn't sleep all night. He was fine when I talked to him last night, so it's really a mystery.

After eating everything in sight for 3 days, Bill turned down breakfast. And when his nurse brought his meds, he said he couldn't see. We both had the same thought apparently, stroke. But, he could tell her how many fingers she was holding up, he could squeeze her fingers and push against her hands with his feet. Looking into his eyes, she was satisfied with what she saw and he could answer all of her questions, except for the day of the week. But, he knew where he was and that it was December. She also checked his peg tube and it was bleeding again, but whether it was external or internal we didn't know. She gave him a bolus feeding and we turned off all the lights and he went back to sleep.

It was a dark and stormy day and I was a little hard pressed to do anything. I opened the blinds to let in what little natural light there was and kept the room door open for the hallway light and was able to read a little with my book propped on the shelf by the window. 

Dr. Threlkeld came in and inspected the peg site and he things it is all external, just irritated. I told him that we didn't keep it covered at home and it had not been irritated until the hospital. I did notice that when someone cleaned it, they wiped off all the new tissue, just like I thought. He said he would just keep an eye on it. He also said that he had discontinued the IV antibiotics and would still monitor his numbers.

The ICU specialist came in and said he would be back with the pulmonologist on call, Dr. Sheikh that I have not met. I filled him in on how good the week-end was and that the oxygen blend had been turned down and up and down and up.

Bill slept through all of that and only woke up to pee. He kept complaining that when he was trying to pee, he wanted to poop too, but he didn't want me to get a bedpan. So he just kept himself miserable. And as soon as he would finish and hang his urinal on the trash can, he would say he had to go again.

He did tell Abby that he just felt bad and hurt all over, but he didn't want anything for pain. I told her that there was an order for Tylenol and that he responds to it well and to just put it in with his noon meds. So she did that. She also checked his temp and it was 98.6, but I told her he usually ran in the mid 97s, so he had a low grade fever.

His blood pressure was also staying low, even with his medications. It wouldn't surprise me to find out tomorrow that they had to give him some Albumin to boost it. Usually that works pretty fast.

When lunch came it was his least favorite of all of them and I knew he wouldn't eat it, but he did ask for his Glucerna and drank all of it. He also had a drink of tea and then went back to sleep.

I came home about 1:30, but it was weather related. There was a little lull in the rain and it was a good time for me to leave and I was hoping that I could get home before the next wave of rain. He was OK with that and I told him I would be back in the morning. He just said OK and went back to sleep. I didn't get home before the heavy rain started again and there were a couple of times that I thought I would have to pull over. It was raining too hard to stop for gas when I got into town so I get to do that in the morning when the temp is only in the 20s. Oh well, my coat has a hood, I have gloves and will have my coffee in the car to warm me back up.

I couldn't find Abby before I left, but I did talk to Caleb and he was going to give him a bath this afternoon. I know Bill wouldn't be too keen on that since he said he was freezing, but his room was really warm and Caleb knows how to do it so that he doesn't get too cold.

I did talk to Mark, one of the nurse managers, about days. The numbers he gave don't match with what I have figured, and we got some Medicare EOBs in the mail today and they don't match what he has either. They do match up with mine more than his, so I will take them tomorrow. I don't want to be blindsided like I was last year when Medicare runs out for this period and we have to use the last of his lifetime reserve days.

I feel bad that I missed the other doctors, but I know they will call me if there's anything I need to know. Or at least I hope they would. And I haven't heard anything from them. I haven't tried to call Bill because I don't think he could hear his phone ring.

So, that's it for today. After 3 good days in a row today was a little let down. But, maybe it will only be today and he'll be back to himself tomorrow...unless he stays awake all night because he has slept all day!