Bill is home! Dr. Threlkeld said that he thought the germ had been hit with enough high powered antibiotics that it was gone and dead and that Bill felt well enough to leave. The cardiologist's nurse practitioner made sure that I felt comfortable bringing him home before writing the order and he was discharged a little after lunch yesterday.

He's still rather weak and did come home with a walker (that he hasn't used), and still gets winded some when he walks. I told him last night I would gladly wait on him...yesterday. But today he starts moving more again. We're going to make up a schedule for him so that he doesn't just sit and watch TV all day.

We were both pretty tired by the time we got home and got meds picked up, and there was a weather front coming through that gave me a super big headache. Some Tylenol finally knocked it back and I was able to cook supper. It didn't taste good to me, but Bill ate 2 good size helpings and then had some cookies for dessert. 

He's still sleeping, but it's early yet. I'm into my normal routine of feeding the cats and getting MY stuff done. But, if I don't go out, I may just stay in my pjs and robe all day. It's cloudy and already warm and I think we're supposed to get some more showers this afternoon. We got a little rain last night but again there was more thunder than rain.

I don't know if I will update this tomorrow for the regular update. You'll just have to check back to see. But, I'll be back next week for the regular Saturday update, and of course if something should happen in the meantime, I'll get it on here. So, until next week, we're resting up and taking it easy for a few days!

For those of you who have been reading this since the beginning, especially after the transplant, you'll perhaps remember the posts about Evil Bill and the effects of high doses of steroids. Well, Evil Bill made an appearance again yesterday and it was only me gathering up my things and walking to the door to leave that finally got through to him.

Because he is a fall risk, they keep him tethered to his chair and his bed is alarmed. He has know this from the beginning of his stay. He's know he's not supposed to walk alone or get up unattended. Yesterday, he decided to rebel and he was ugly with everyone. Nothing anyone said got past his idea that he was able to get up until I walked to the door. 

Part of it is that he is feeling much better. And another part is that the chairs are very uncomfortable. He said he's tired of sitting in that hard chair and wants to sit on the couch and I told him it's just as hard (because I had sat in the chair also). He says if he asks for help to the bathroom they stand in there and watch him (they do not).

When he finally calmed down some I put a towel across his lap and opened his tray table and got his electric razor and he finally shaved. He had to use the sideburn trimmer for all of it, but he shaved and did a pretty good job! He hadn't shaved since August 5th for my birthday.

He is doing much better and Dr. Threlkeld, the infectious disease dr. is leaving it up to the pulmonary doctors as to when he can be released. He still sounds a little crackly and he's still on the humidified oxygen at a higher rate than normal and staying winded when he walks, so he's still not "well". Of course, he will never be completely well, but he's not as well as he can be. But Dr. Threlkeld said that each day he can pump antibiotics in is another day they are killing the germ and one less day we have to do it at home. We may be coming home with them, it just depends.

I didn't see the pulmonary dr. yesterday. The weather was going to get bad and I wanted to beat it home if possible. I had to leave pretty early to beat the after school traffic (there's a high school directly across from the hospital), or I would have to stay until my normal time of waiting until most of the regular rush hour traffic was gone and then would be driving through rain. I hit rain just before town and it rained so hard I couldn't see. It had rained here at home and then it made noise for a while and rained gently for a bit but nothing hard. It's supposed to start again this morning so I'll be in it this time, I imagine.

We should find out today if Bill will get to come home by the week-end. I know he wants to. He told me last night that they did untether him and let him sit on the couch and that he used his walker that he's coming home with, but I don't know if he just said he used it to make me happy or if he really did use it. I guess I'll find out when I get there. 

So that's it. Hopefully we don't spend another day in steroid land. Of course Bill doesn't realize what he's doing. To him everything is reasonable and makes perfect sense, so we'll see. Wish me luck!

Yesterday was productive, at least for Bill. His room was empty when I got there and I found him at the end of the hallway by the windows with cardiac rehab. They had been out for an early morning stroll.

In the afternoon physical therapy came in and had him do some of the exercises he's been doing here at home with Tammy, and then occupational therapy came late and did some other exercises and went over some home safety things. She was impressed that we already had them in place.

Cardiology ordered a walker for him to go home with and said that when I say he could come home, they would then talk about discharge, but if I thought I couldn't manage his care, he would just stay put. He didn't like that very much, and I don't know how serious she was, but it works for me.

Dr. Fox, one of the pulmonolgists came in and said he was sounding much better, although there hadn't been much change in his x-rays. He did say that the biopsies that were taken during the bronchoscopy only showed inflamation, nothing bad. No cancer or anything like that. So, the plan is to just keep on doing what they're doing. He didn't give any time table for discharge.

I was getting ready to leave after Bill's dinner came and ran into Dr. Threlkeld in the hall, so he came on in instead of going where he had planned. He said he's sounding better. He didn't say if anything else had been isolated yet and we would just continue as planned. 

We've both noticed that Bill has developed a pretty pronounced tremor in his hands. I asked Dr. Threlkeld about it and he thought it was probably due to the breathing treatments and not the antibiotic. So, I need to do some research on that, too.

That's about it. Bill was thrilled to be able to walk some, but by the time OT finished he was pretty tired. He told me to go home, I was leaving about that time anyway, that he knew if was hard on me going back and forth. It wasn't bad yesterday. Traffic was light and I made it in a little over an hour and didn't speed...much!

Well, one cat is on the washing machine trying to eat my bra that's hanging up drying, the other is ready to launch from the other office chair. So, I'd better be ready to referee. They still fight some, but they also antagonize each other now. Another update will come after today's visit.

Yesterday was just another day of hanging out at the hospital with nothing happening. We saw the cardiac nurse practitioner and she said she would get cardiac rehab going along with physical therapy. We saw one of the pulmonologists and he said Bill just needed to get stronger and let the medicine keep working. Bill was not a happy camper because he is still tethered and he can't just get up and go, even though he said he has walked all over the room by himself. But, he's been tethered the entire time and has only walked with help.

It was a bad day for me. Some of the bad was taken care of and turned out that it wasn't caused by the person I thought it was. Then I choked up my supper. It was so bad that I couldn't even let a popsicle melt down my throat. Finally a peppermint soothed it enough that it quit spasming. But, this morning my pills didn't want to go down and one is stuck somewhere. I can feel it and taste it but can't find it! I'm hoping it's just the 1/2 pill I take and it is almost dissolved. Not even hot coffee helped and I tried coughing it out into my hand and that didn't work either. I'm trying to do the pre-anesthesia form for my procedure on the 13th and I keep getting a can't find this page message. So, Beth's Really Bad Day is continuing!

Hopefully the day will get better and Bill will get some therapy and things will settle down!

Bill had a good day yesterday, as days go when you're in the hospital. He was still in bed when I got there, but asked to be put in this chair right before lunch arrived. After he ate he was given a bath (finally) and I think felt much better, although it tired him out.

He took a walk down the hall for the first time. He had walked in the room the day before but got a little dizzy so they didn't try to go any further. But yesterday he ventured out. His room is not quite in the middle of the hallway and he walked from his room almost to the end of the hall and back. I was following with a wheelchair and he didn't have to use it, but he was glad to sit down when we got back to the room.

His oxygen flow has been reduced from the high flow to where he is at home, but they still have it humidified. I don't know if that will be the new norm, or if it's just for while he's still recovering. (It has taken me forever to type that word, guess it's what I get for doing it in the semi-darkness).

The cardiologist came in after I left last night. His nurse said she would be back today but didn't say if he would be or not. I'm not going to the hospital. I've got to do some things around here, like laundry and I need to go to Jonesboro to take care of something. As Joe, our neighbor said last night, only a short drive (an hour compared to 90 minutes and less traffic). Tomorrow I'm going late as I have an appointment to get the oil changed and tires rotated on my car. But, the drs. usually don't come until close to lunch time or after and I should be there by then. My appointment is at 8.

I think Bill realizes that he's not ready to come home, even though he feels better. We talked about it, that even though he feels better and is coughing less (although he was doing more coughing yesterday than Friday) that we would be right back in the same boat if he came home now. I know he misses the cats and sitting in his chair and watching the TV channels he likes. So, since cardiac rehab should start Monday he will probably enjoy that. I'm taking him a suitcase with some clean undies and some clothes to go home in. I actually figured they wouldn't discharge him if they had to do it naked! But then you never know!

I talked to him last night and he had eaten all of his dinner and was just about ready to get into bed. I told him to call me as much as he wanted today and if I needed to come down I would. But I think he'll be fine. His nurse and aide yesterday were wonderful and there are a couple of other week-end nurses that I like a lot so maybe he'll have one of those.

I'd better go and see what the cats are getting into. Until tomorrow's report, enjoy your Sunday!

I got quite the surprise this morning when I walked into Bill's room and he was sitting in his recliner! Physical Therapy had come before I got there and moved the chair to the other side of the bed closer to his IV pole. They also have a short tube for the oxygen. It makes it easier on him to be over there, but it's hard to talk to each other across the room.

He had eaten most of his breakfast and ate all of his lunch and supper! He looked so much better and he said he felt better. The one concern that I had is that he didn't use his urinal for the entire 8 hours I was there, and he was drinking constantly. Hopefully he used it after I left.

The infectious disease doctor said that one of the cultures has grown something that resembles e coli more than a rod bacteria, which was surprising to him. He has started an antibiotic and said he was considering a second one, but changed his mind. It seems like. he's pleased with his progress. He said that Bill would be in hospital at least through the week-end.

When Dr. Williams, the pulmonologist came in he said that Bill's lungs were full of junk, even though the same procedure was done a little over a month ago. He said he looked and sounded much better, but he will be there for at least another week. I told him that I didn't want to take him home if he couldn't walk across the room without being short of breath. Right now he's on high flow humidified oxygen but I think that will stop once he can keep his sats up again. They still keep fluctuating.

Physical therapy has been ordered and I asked about cardiac rehab and they agreed that it would be beneficial and our nurse ordered it right then. I also asked her why his inhalers hadn't been given to him and they weren't in the computer so they were starting them tonight. They don't have one of them (the one that's easiest for him to use) but there was another one they were ordering.

They were going to let him walk in the hall tonight, but they didn't have any tubing long enough so they were going to try to get one from respiratory therapy. They were still waiting when I came home for the evening. Hopefully they got it and he got to move a little. I may throw in one of ours tomorrow just in case.

So, things are looking up today. I'm sure we will have some more set-backs, but I don't think they will be as scary and tough as they were yesterday. I don't think I'm taking my laptop tomorrow because the internet is so spotty but I will definitely update when I get home if I don't take it.

Sorry I didn't get this updated like I said I would, but with the spotty internet at the hospital and some other issues, it didn't happen.

The procedure apparently went well, but Bill himself did not do well. The nurse had told me that they flushed much deeper into his lungs than last time so he would do a lot of coughing to get the saline out. He was not in the same "I feel good" mood as he was after the last one. The had him on an oxygen mask instead of the cannula because his sats kept dropping. He started complaining of shortness of breath so respiratory came in and did a breathing treatment and then had to put on a different mask so that he would be getting 100% oxygen. He was still very agitated and would only calm down when I was standing beside him telling him to calm himself. They got a different type cannula and put that on and that helped. The second mask they put on also had a bag attached. I don't know just what that was for.

At one point Dr. Williams who had done the procedure wanted to move him to the transplant ICU unit so that he could be monitored more closely, but there were no available beds, and none of the patients could safely be moved to the step-down unit, so he stayed where he was.

The dr. ordered a steroid shot IV and is IV site was leaking when it was flushed and they couldn't get another one started. I was texting with Mary-Rose at that time and she said to ask if it could be done as a shot, so I did and they said they would ask the dr., but he apparently wanted it done IV. So, a picc line was finally done. Of course I had to leave the room at that point because it's a sterile procedure. I told Mary I wish she was closer because, not only is she an RN, she is a picc line specialist. When I went back to the room it was over and he had gotten the shot and was much calmer. 

We kept the room dark and quiet and he finally fell asleep for a bit. His sats started staying in the mid 90s, although his oxygen flow was pretty high. But, he rested and I relaxed.

He finally ate a little dinner when they brought it. He had most of a slice of turkey breast and a couple of bites of dressing and a roll. The dressing was cornbread which of course is standard for the south, but not to his yankee taste buds. They also served collard greens which he also doesn't like. But, I'm just glad he ate what he did. He also had some orange sherbet and I gave him part of an oatmeal cookie I picked up in the cafeteria. I found out that the meal choices for dinner are just fast foods or left overs from lunch which looked horrible. You know how food gets when it's been kept under heat lamps for a long time. So, my meals weren't that great yesterday but I knew I would be too tired to fix something or pick something up when I got home.

I never did see the dr. before I left, but I just couldn't stay any longer and still be able to drive home. I got home just at dusk and got the animals fed and turned on the ballgame.

I noticed in his records that an IV antibiotic has been added to his medications, so something must have grown fast. I'll ask when I get there. I told him I would not be there early this morning, which is a good thing since it's already after 6 and I'm still on my first cup of coffee.

So, that's the latest update that I have. Hopefully the internet will work well enough at the hospital to update this once I see how he's doing this morning.