Zero to Sixty in .9 Seconds

Seriously, that is how fast everything in the past couple of weeks has happened.

When we last left off in this saga, The Husband - while not well - was fine.  Completely fine.

Until he wasn't.  When I woke up on Tuesday (7/14), he informed he hadn't slept all night, had a fever and chills and said he didn't feel like he was breathing right.  He then took some ibuprofen, sat in the chair and slept for about four hours or so.  When he woke up, he was fine.  So fine that he took himself off to visit Starbucks and the grocery store.  Then he came home and made lunch.  It was all completely fine and normal.

A few hours after lunch, he began to feel feverish again - along with chills so bad he turned the heater on IN JULY IN THE MIDDLE OF A HEATWAVE.  Finally, he called our friend two doors down (remember, she is a nurse).  She, of course, was in the middle of her workday, so she told him to call his doctor's office to see if they could/would squeeze us in.  Of course, they couldn't as it was about 3:30 or 4:00 pm by now.  So we talked to the nurse at the office, she had us take his blood pressure which was DANGEROUSLY high and told us to go to the ER immediately.

We must have hit that ER at just the right time because no sooner than we walked in, the triage nurses came to take his temperature (104) and blood pressure (I didn't know this at the time, but was told later it had plummeted) and see what brought us in.

Immediately, after that they came for a chest x-ray - despite the fact he had one in his chart from the previous week.  I think they were looking to see if it was heart failure.

And then we were whisked off to an ER room, as they were checking him over and the doctor was telling me that they would most likely admit him - I don't know what happened  - I don't know if it was a panic attack coupled with the severe chills or if it was a seizure.  All I do know is it was absolutely terrifying.  They called for a crash cart and sent me away. 

As you can imagine I was shocked and scared.  My friend two doors down knew what was going on and sent her husband (since she was still working) to sit with me while I waited to see my husband.  I was so grateful he was there since I was absolutely losing my mind.  He is absolutely the best person to sit with you when you are losing your mind - so calm and reassuring.

When we finally got in to see him after he was stablized; they had to entubate him, which honestly, I was not expecting.  Seeing my husband out cold, totally sedated and with a tube down his throat was terrifying.  The ER doctor explained what she thought was going on (pneumonia) and that he would be admitted to ICU.  Standard procedure for an entubated patient.

We got him up to his room and got him settled.

And then began the longest days of my life.  By Saturday (18th), we were seeing very teeny, tiny improvements; but still entubated.  By now, we also knew that it was NOT pneumonia and had learned that my usually healthy husband's lungs were badly damaged (we assume from the nasty natural gas plant he had worked at for years when we lived in the Houston area).   And that there were some other - less terrifying underlying issues.

And we waited.  Until finally, I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday this week - we had to have some very serious discussions about how we go forward.  By now, both kids had made it so I didn't have to make any decisions on my own, THANK GOD.

The ICU doctor felt certain that if they put a trach (still on the ventilator for now) we could move him to a long term care facility for rehab and weaning him off the ventilator.  He warned it will be long road to recovery but felt that maybe, eventually, they will be able to even remove the trach. 

So we had the trach put it on Friday and the plan was to start to bring him out of sedation.  But then, of course, there was a hiccup in the middle of the night and they had to replace it with a larger tube. So, as of yesterday he was still under pretty heavy sedation.

When I arrived this morning, they had cut back his sedation quite a bit and he was awake and alert, so I could talk to him and he could see me.  Of course, he can't talk and I am sure he is very confused and anxious because he doesn't know what is going on.  I'm sure the last thing he remembers was checking into the ER.

So now, we are in the wait and see mode as we wait for the transfer.  I will say that the nurses and doctors and the care they provided at this hospital were top-notch.  I can only hope we can say the same for the long term care facility.

And once he gets there, he is going to have to work really hard so he can come with me. 

As the title implies, once this ball started rolling it snowballed so very quickly.  In fact, I'm still shocked at how quickly it all unraveled.

Send your prayers, thoughts and good wishes, please.  We certainly need them right now. 

Ugh...Life These Days In The Gigi Household

 Friends, things here have been HEAVY.  Hence, my recent lack of posts.  I don't want to drag you down with me.

We are quickly approaching the two year mark of my unemployment.  As you can imagine, this is a very heavy weight, particularly as I was the primary bread winner for the last few years.

But, I am beginning to think it is probably a good thing that I haven't found anything just yet.  As most of you know, my husband is significantly older than me (12 years) and is beginning to have a few health issues (nothing too serious that we know about yet anyway). And it has become quite apparent to me that he needs me to advocate for him.

He has high blood pressure (genetics and anxiety are the root cause) and has been on Amlodipene for years.  Well, it caused his legs to swell a ridiculous amount and it was getting worse.  I've told him to talk to his doctor about it.  And every time he did, the doctor just said that was a side effect.  So when he went to see his doctor this last time, I went with him.  I looked that doctor in the eye, while pointing to my husband's legs and said, "This needs to be resolved now.  Not only can he barely get his shoes on, he is uncomfortable and has a hard time walking." (there are other issues from the swelling that I won't get into here).  Needless to say, we came away from that appointment with a couple of referrals - including one for a sleep study because he's not sleeping well, which I am attributing to possible fluid around his lungs (if he's got that much fluid in his legs, you can just assume it's everywhere at this point) and apnea - and he is now officially off Amlodipene and on something else.  To be honest, this should have NEVER gone on this long.  And the fact that he never pushed back with the doctor in the first place irritates me.

The doctor we saw yesterday, put him on a strong diuretic and the swelling is slowly coming down.  And the doctor we saw today told me that it will take some time since he was on the medication for so long.

I have been discussing these issues with my friend two doors down (she's a nurse) throughout all of this and she looked at me ad said, "You know you are going to have to go with him to every doctor's appointment from here on out."  And I agreed.  Because it has become increasingly apparent that not only will he not advocate for himself, he won't ask questions.

How do I know this?  Because back in December he had to have a bit of skin cancer removed from his leg.  He was told to put this cream on it and keep it covered because they didn't want it to scab over.  Did this man ask how long he should keep it covered?  No, friends, he did not.  And then unilaterally decided after two weeks that it didn't need to be covered any more.  When he went back for the follow up visit in January he was told it should have been covered this whole time and to keep it covered.  Again, did he ask how long he should keep it covered?  No, he did not.  And that's when I put it together and realized that I need to be in the exam rooms with him to advocate, listen to what he might miss and ask questions.

 So that is where we are at this point in time.  I still don't have a job, and apparently don't need one as I am now his full time healthcare advocate - which for the next month or so looks like a full time job in and of itself.

Me, my friend, and the doctors are all of the mind that if we can get the swelling down a lot of the other issues will take care of themselves.

So all that to say, advocate for yourselves and pay attention to what your spouse is doing regarding their health; because they may very well need you to advocate for them.  And, if you are on Amlodipene, keep an eye on your ankles and if you notice ANY swelling get to the doctor immediately to discuss alternatives.