We are still on for discharge tomorrow as far as I know! His white count is normal, the slow acting insulin is keeping his sugar in check and he's moving air well. He still gets short of breath with exertion, but it comes back up as he rests and takes some deep breaths. I know he's ready to come home!

There is still no definite diagnosis as far as the infection goes. Some of the more obscure tests they are running take several days to grow. One thing they are testing for is cat scratch fever. He did get scratched by Kitty, but we immediately washed it and applied Neosporin, but who knows. I think they are testing for everything they can think of since everything so far has come back negative.

I don't know if he will come home with insulin or if we are just to monitor it. I also don't know if he will be on oral antibiotics or still IVs. The internal medicine dr. came in while I was getting something to drink and he said he would be back to talk to me, but I waited 2 hours and then had to leave. It was the time of day that traffic was very heavy on the interstate so I came through downtown. There was still a lot of traffic, but it was manageable. It just took and hour to get to the bridge instead of 30 minutes. But, traffic was lighter once I got across so it wasn't too bad. I stopped at the store and got something to cook and the cats and I have eaten and now I'm wearing out fast. I didn't sleep well last night and didn't feel well this morning. My lunch stayed with me all night and into the morning. Finally chewed an antacid and it finally stopped.

I'm going to try to be at the hospital early in the morning, so I'll probably need to set an alarm. But I definitely want to be there when the drs. round, and maybe they'll make the decision for sure to discharge and we'll get back home sooner.

So, the crisis has been resolved and hopefully he will continue to improve. He's making plans for things around the house, and they are things that need done but most will have to wait until spring. At least his mind is working better!

All for tonight. Now that I've eaten I'm getting sleepy. Goodnight!

Bill had a good day and now we are looking at going home Friday, if he can transition to pill form of the antibiotics instead of the IVs. His white count is now back to normal, but it is still a mystery since everything they have tested for, as far as the infection goes, has come back negative.

They have started giving him a low dose of a slow acting insulin and supplementing it at meal times if necessary with a fast acting one. His A1C went from 7 last week to 8 yesterday. The Dr. still seems to think that it is all steroid driven, but since his dad was diabetic in his later years, it's entirely possible. The dietician came in this morning and gave us some information on watching carbs, so we may have a new phase of eating there.

He still is getting short of breath when he is walking and I don't know what they are going to do about that, or if it will change as the pneumonia is cleared. It could also just be a progression of the COPD/emphysema.

I came home early today to beat the rain that was coming in and have paid the bills and filled my pill container. I went to Walmart to grab a couple of things, and mainly to break a big money bill, and got so disgusted that I did what I had threatened to do many times, left my basket and walked out. They had 3 lanes open and they were backed up past the first walk-through. All of the self-checks were open and they were all full. I did get lucky that Subway was able to break the bill. I got a foot long sandwich and will take half of it with me to the hospital tomorrow.

I am really tired and went to bed last night at 8. My phone beeped at 10:30 and it was nothing important and I didn't wake up until 5 when the cat came and licked my cheek and told me it was time for breakfast. I felt really rested, but I had a very hard time keeping my eyes open on the drive down, until I hit traffic and then it was much easier. Hopefully that won't happen tomorrow morning.

I just talked to Bill to see if he remembered the baseball game and he had. He also had a visitor after I left. His son Joe came to visit. He had an appointment across the street so he stopped in. We haven't seen him in so long that Bill said he really didn't recognize him, but they had a nice visit.

That's all for now. I'm going to watch as much of the ballgame as I can and then hit the bed. I've already had my shower and I don't think there's anything for me to gather for tomorrow. Goodnight for now!

I feel so much better this morning! I got up early and got to the hospital about 8:30. He was very grumpy again because they couldn't find the waiver he signed against being alarmed. But, they are looking for it and the tether has been taken off.

One of the nurse practitioners from cardiology came in first and when I asked why he was moved she said he should have been in this unit in the first place! That made me feel better. She said the other side doesn't monitor the meds as closely and don't seem to realize the tight schedule the transplant meds are on. 

We have seen the infectious disease dr. and the cardiologist. The CT did show pneumonia in one lung. The echo didn't show anything amiss so that's good. They have increased one of his transplant meds as his level was low. It had been a little high earlier and then they got it too low. So they are trying to level it out. All of the tests that have been done as far as the pneumonia goes have come back negative as to what kind it is.

Depending on how he continues to respond to the IV meds, and when they can be changed to mouth, he may get to come home in a couple of days. He still hasn't been able to give a sputum sample because he's not coughing as much so they may have to do a bronchoscopy. 

Physical and occupational therapy have just taken him for a little stroll down the hall. His O2 dropped from 98 to 82 when he was walking but it has come up to 94 now. OT isn't going to work with him anymore but physical is going to come and keep walking him.

So, a much better report today. Now maybe the hives will stay away!

I'm pretty tired tonight and confused, and a little apprehensive. Bill seems to feel better, but he is still congested and has a hard time going from laying down to sitting up without coughing. He also is still getting very short of breath on any exertion. It could be that he's been inactive for a few days now, and with the congestion it is harder to move.

The internal medicine dr. said that his white count has finally started to come down, so the meds are finally getting on top of the infection. It's still not clear what has caused the infection and I don't know if we ever will. He was going to have physical therapy start walking him to see if that helped to move the congestion around to get it out. He also said that his sugar is high but that could be because they were pumping him full of steroids. They have started him on some insulin in the interim.

They did an echo today, which didn't really surprise me, if  for no other reason to rule out any problems with the heart. The lung drs. are changing his inhalers again. We found out that we were told wrong on the new inhaler. She told us to stop the Advair and use the new one with the Turdoza when in fact it should have been the other way around. So, he was in effect overdosing on that med and not getting the steroid from the Advair. So they are going to fix that.

As soon as I left today they moved Bill to the transplant unit, but no-one knows why. They told him that they didn't have any tests results back that would warrant the move. Of course he doesn't process things very well so I don't know. He just called me while I was on my way home and told me the new room number. Bryan had stopped in just after they moved him and he didn't know anything either.

I called Bill to get the name of his nurse and to have her call me to tell me why he was moved. I would like to know if I need to go back to the hospital tonight. But, so far I haven't heard anything and I'm getting to the point that I'm too tired to drive the 1 1/2 hours to get there. I don't think this should be done ( and it was done before at this hospital ) without notifying the family. Bill said he told them they should have done it sooner before I left. They also didn't let food services know so they had to scrounge him up supper since his dinner went to the old room. 

You know, I hadn't realized until that I was hoping I would never have to do these daily posts again. Sometimes they did make me feel better and it did let me remember things. But tonight, this post is just making me sad.

With that being said, I'm going to the hospital website to see if I can find a phone number for the unit or some number that will get me there. When I know more, you'll know more.

If you read the last post, you know that there was something going on with Bill since he wasn't getting any better. Well, we ended up heading to Memphis to the emergency room yesterday (Saturday). I really had to talk him in to it and Connie had wanted him to go Friday night but he refused.

We were very impressed with the staff at the ER. Within 5 minutes he had been checked in and was heading to a room. Emily barely made it in the door from parking the car to follow along with us. Within 45 minutes he had been connected the monitor, had bloodwork done, a chest xray and they had called and consulted with Mayo. Then, aside from a breathing treatment, it was a very long wait for results. The things they were looking at were pneumonia, congestive heart failure, or a rare rejection with the heart. Rejection can happen at any time, but it's usually closer to early transplant.

When the hospitalist came in and said that it was pneumonia in both lungs, I told him I would take that over the other choices and he agreed that it was the best of the diagnoses.

So, he has been admitted to the hospital for a few days.

So far today (Sunday) we have seen the hospitalist, infectious disease practitioner, transplant cardiologist, respiratory for a breathing treatment and waiting for pulmonology. Dr. Burbeck doesn't have privileges here, but her group does so they have requested a consult with them.

We do know that the type of pneumonia he has is not airborne, like legionaires. So they took away 2 of the high powered antibiotics. He only has 2 antibiotics and they are both IV drips, but he doesn't have to continually connected to IVs. They initially had him as a fall risk and had his bed and chair alarmed but he signed a waiver after I got here refusing that. We tried telling him that it was just a precaution but he wasn't having it. We also tried to make a compromise that he would be alarmed if I wasn't here, but he wouldn't agree to that either. 

The transplant dr. is going to consult with Mayo tomorrow and he said that he wasn't planning to make any changes to anything. He did order a CT last night from head to chest and I told him that he would see a "nodule" on his left lung that is just a fold. I told him that after it was seen on the scan a year ago the PET scan had been done and that was when it was discovered that it was just a fold. He said that he was so glad I had told him so he wouldn't be alarmed when he got the results. He also said that he was just going to monitor his meds, especially the transplant meds. He also suggested that we start using them as a back-up transplant group, without giving up control to Mayo, and then he can be see yearly just for a regular check-up much closer to Mayo. I'm going to talk to Stephanie about that when we go next month, but as far as a regular cardiologist, we will be making an appointment for that.

So, that's where we are now and for the next few days. Usually when we are here I just stay with him all the time, but I'm not going to this time, and he is fine with that. It is a long drive, but it's not a bad drive until Memphis proper and, depending on the time of day. But I can work around that as far as heavy rush hour goes.

The cat was very glad to see me last night and followed me wherever I went. She slept on Bill's side of the bed most of the night and didn't wake me until 6, which is very unusual for her. She usually starts about 4!

I will update this more frequently until he's back home, so keep checking in. If not, you'll have lots of reading to do next weekend!

Posting early this week since we have a busy morning tomorrow. It's Kayden's 13th birthday and we have a tradition of going out for breakfast and then shopping. He wants to try a new restaurant (for him) and then shop for a winter coat. He's then going to come back to the house for a piano lesson. He got a keyboard from his mom and he's always liked messing around with beats and rhythms so he wants to add to that. I pulled out all of the old lesson books and there are a couple of things here that he can take with him.

Bill is not really any better, although he's having a good day and then a bad day. It's becoming quite a mystery. When we were at the dr. Monday he was still crackly so more Prednisone. He had lost 3 pounds so took some fluid off, but he stays so dry I think it did more harm than good. Since it has been about 6 weeks, she was going to contact Dr. Burbeck the pulmonologist instead of Mayo first. I haven't heard back so I don't know if she was able to get with her yet.

His blood sugar was a little high 2 hours after eating but I think that's due more to the Prednisone and the infection he's fighting. It can also be high if he isn't hydrated enough and since that is an ongoing problem, with the Lasix added in, it could also be that. They were going to check his A1C from the blood draw and I haven't heard anything on that front either so I'm assuming that it is OK.

Connie changed one of his inhalers and he's been coughing a lot more since starting it. I don't know if that's good or bad. McKenna has even noticed that he's coughing more. It is a wet cough so things are moving, but whether it's from whatever he's fighting or just from the COPD and emphysema, or from the new inhaler is unknown. He's only been on it since Tuesday so it may just be getting into his system and getting the Advair out. Another thing to ask Dr. Burbeck.

He's been cold all day today and has on a heavy flannel shirt and 2 blankets. He's also got a low grade fever and just looks like he doesn't feel good. It's been a cold, damp day here and I've turned the heat up twice. It still feels a little cool to me, but I've got on a short sleeve Tshirt. It's not supposed to be above 60 tomorrow and down to freezing tomorrow night. I wish now that I had called the chimney sweep last week like I was going to!

We got the new concentrator Monday. It seems fairly straightforward to operate and I've charged all the batteries. We have the little bag packed with the extra batteries and will give it a tryout tomorrow with Kayden. Hopefully Bill will feel well enough to go. He said a little while ago that I could go without him and that will depend on how he actually feels. I think Kayden will understand if it doesn't happen this week. There's always next week-end!

We got a new great-granddaughter today. She came 3 weeks early, but weighed 7 lbs and was nearly 20 inches long, so maybe the due date was just miscalculated. Her mom said that she's perfectly healthy and won't have to spend any extra time in the hospital. As far as I know, she's the last one coming for awhile, although with 2 grandsons recently married, it may not be long before there are more. 

That's about it for now. Hoping we have a better week next week. See you then!

The morning has gotten away from me today. Took the cat to the vet for her shot. The area on her neck that we've been treating has dramatically improved this week, so maybe only a couple more shots and she'll have cleared up. She's feeling a lot better and starting to play with her toys. Then, after bringing her home, decided to go to Walmart for a few things. Bill decided to stay home and I got more than I had planned. But, as I was driving I remembered we were out of this and almost out of that so I got those things too.

My voice came back Sunday somewhat. It was a little hoarse for most of the week but it's fine now. I also haven't had any hives for most of the week and all the meds have been added back. It's still quite the mystery and could have all been just a combination of stress and being sick and maybe the antibiotic. But, I'm basically well now. I got my flu shot while we were there Wednesday so we're both good to go.

Bill is still fighting it. He's had a 3 day round of Rocephin shots and some Lasix and Prednisone. I think she's thinking that there is some fluid build-up around his heart. He went back to the dr. Wednesday and she said his heart sounded good but he was still a little crackly. Some days he coughs a lot and other days he hardly coughs at all. He's to go back Monday to see what his chest xray looks like and if it hasn't cleared she's going to call Stephanie at Mayo to see what they recommend.

I worked on tracking the progress of the order for the battery powered oxygen concentrator and it should be here Monday. If I had done it earlier in the week we would have it already, but I waited until late afternoon Thursday so it didn't get shipped until yesterday. Hopefully this will give Bill a little more freedom.

We're to get some storms sometime after midnight. The weatherman doesn't think they will be severe, but there will be some heavy rain. Another reason to get the running done today. It sprinkled on me a little on the way to Walmart, but the sky is clear now. We may take a ride this afternoon, or maybe we'll wait until next week-end and try out the new concentrator!

That's about it for this week. Hopefully things are now looking up as far as health goes. See you next week!