Another really bad day. I'm writing this from ICU. I was called just as I was getting off the interstate at the hospital. Bill had decompensated again and Xanax and dilaudid did not calm him down. So, the decision was made, by who I don't know, to move him to ICU. This did not upset me, I figured when he got as junky as he did Wednesday that this was where he needed to be.

The nurses had already packed up the room, except for my picture on the wall, and it took a couple of hours to get the ICU room cleaned, so he finally got moved about 9:30 this morning. Before he was even settled into the new bed, Mike from respiratory had brought in the bronch kit. I just grabbed my backpack and drink and said I would be sitting out in the waiting area just down the hall, not the ICU waiting room. The ICU doctor stopped me in the hall and asked some questions. He was a new one that we hadn't had before.

As I had been bringing the cart with all our stuff on it, I saw Kim from cardiac and she said she had heard he was coming back. I also saw Nick, one of the cardiac nurses who has been seeing Bill and he said he had texted Dr. Edwards. I saw Travis from PT and then got into the unit just as rounds started.

While sitting in the waiting area, I saw Dr. Oktied and Jim, one of the pastors, and then Jennifer, the nurse manager for ICU. Jim came and sat with me for awhile and we just chatted about different things. He's just a good ole boy. Jennifer came back by and asked if I had gotten any updates and I had not, so she checked and said that they were still in the middle of the bronch and she would send Austin, his nurse to get me when they were finished.

They did a deep lavage, which is filling his lungs with saline and flushing them out. The ICU doctor, and Dr. Sheikh said they got a bunch of thick secretions and a lot of stuff from the bottom of his left lung. He was still sedated and would probably sleep most of the day.

He has been awake off and on for a bit now and not comfortable at all. But, he got some more Xanax and has calmed down more. Austin suctioned him and still got some frothy blood, but it didn't look like too many secretions. He hasn't needed to be suctioned much at all. He did mouth "help me" but I don't think he knows where he is, even though I have told him. 

The plan for right now is to probably keep him on the vent through the week-end and then do a breathing trial with the trach collar to see how he does. I talked to Mark the case manager and he said we'll know more after the week-end as to what the plan will be. He said we probably won't be able to go to the critical care hospital in Jonesboro instead of Restorative Care because Dr. Edwards likes to keep his hands and eyes on his patients. So, I don't know if even moving to one of the other vent facilities in Memphis would be an option. Restorative Care managers may not have an option to move him unless it's a total to home or skilled nursing discharge like last time.

So, this is where we are right now. Part of me wants to stay here tonight, but there is no-one available right now to feed the cats, and I don't have anything with me. I really don't relish the idea of going home and taking care of things and driving back like I did the last time. He is stable now and where he needs to be, so I will probably go home, but may leave later than I usually do. I'm fine. I don't feel particularly stressed, just concerned. But like I said, I knew he needed to be in this unit 2 days ago. Now maybe he'll be able to gain some strength again. We'll just take it a day at a time.