One finger typing is not my forte, but it's all I have
here in room 4KS40 at the hospital so I'll see how it works. This is the third
bed I've occupied since Friday night - first the ER, then the ICU, and now the
CCU. It's probably going to take me all day to write this in between all the
sleeping, but more on that later.
Setting
the Stage
It's hard to know how this infection began and where
it got into my blood. My body, that wonderful creation of God, had been
fighting it for a while, but those defense mechanisms broke down on Friday
morning. I had come back from running errands and about 9.30 started getting
chills and sweats. (Interestingly, one of those errands was my every 8 weeks
donating blood but this time the needle got a clot almost immediately. Just one
more evidence of God's timing as not only was I going to have a full supply for
all that was about to happen, but this prevented my infected blood from being
passed on to others.)
Continuing the story, I wrapped myself in blankets and
got into bed, figuring this was something like a stomach flu. But over the next
several hours I kept getting worse. Meanwhile my wife (another of God's
blessings), was managing taking care of the boys by herself. Friday is bath
day. She would check in on me from time to time, brought me some juice but I
just brought it back up. By early evening she gave me an ultimatum (thanks
Honey), either start eating or I'm taking you to the hospital. I told her to
call 911 as knew I wouldn't be able to manage the stairs and the ride in. I
crawled over to the living room on Kim's side of the house since that has
outside stairs, climbed up on the couch and promptly passed out. The next I
knew the EMT was standing over me. They put me in a chair stair, took me down
and loaded me into the ambulance.
The
ER - Organized Chaos
By its very nature the ER is a busy place. My bed was
room 2, all the way across from the ambulance entrance, but close to the CT
machine across the hall and the hall to the rest of the facility. While I was
only there a few hours, a lot happened. Remove clothing in exchange for a
hospital gown, two IV lines, chest and foot x-rays, abdominal CT scan, blood
draws for analysis and cultures, check of vital signs, and other things I
probably missed. Because they needed to wait for lab results and because my
blood pressure was so low 80/40, they sent me to the ICU.
Because it was relatively early on Friday night I
didn't hear any reports of gunshot wounds, knifings, or drunken drivers. But
then I was only there for two hours.
The
ICU - By the Book
Around 10pm on Friday I was transported by gurney down
a number of halls to my new location at 2KS34 one of the several ICUs in the
hospital. Because of the terrain I was now on the second floor even though at
the same level as the ER had been.
The ICU is also a busy place, with teams of doctors,
nurses, techs, and assorted others like housekeeping, food specialists, patient
representatives and others I've probably missed. One of the several nurses’
stations was right outside my door. With so many involved in the patients, of
necessity they do everything “by the book”.
I had a nice view out my window of a patio area with
large planter boxes of trees, etc, and the treed area south of the hospital
beyond. But because I was confined to bed the only thing I could see was the
reflection of it in the windows of the adjacent wing - my wife described the
rest of it to me.
By this time I had lots of tubes and wires connecting
me to the room. Five leads for continuous vital monitoring, a finger lead for
blood oxygen monitoring, an IV in each arm/hand (one with 4 drips of various
types and the other free for periodic ones), a blood pressure cuff on a 15
minute cycle, leg cuffs on a one minute cycle, and a tube concoction called a
Foley (a urinary catheter with a balloon on the end so it wouldn't come out). I
wasn't going far!
I spent the next two days in the ICU. In addition to
all the connections, I got finger sticks every few hours for blood sugar levels
(and an insulin shot if it was over 155), and periodic blood draws for lab work
or cultures. I felt like a human pin cushion!
After the first day they had determined that the
infection was primarily strep group B with a little staph on the side. By then
the Foley was out, and I was down to a single type of antibiotic. Yeah!
But that meant that I was going to be moved to my
third bed.
I should also mention before finishing this stage that
the ICU was on lock down mode as they had two patients with protection orders.
But at least my wife as well as both our pastors and an elder were let in to
visit me.
The
CCU - The Storm within the Calm
Yes, I know, that statement usually goes the other
way. But this way seems to match the circumstances. My third and final bed was
4KS40, just two floors up from the last one, but a world apart.
I checked in here about 6pm on Sunday and would be
here a little less than 3 days. I'd gotten my supper downstairs but hadn't been
able to eat much. I really wanted to catch up on lost sleep. I tried for a
while but my fever was back and I couldn't get comfortable. Finally asked for a
dose of liquid Tylenol (I have a psychological block on swallowing pills dating
back to my growing up in a Christian Science household). After taking that I
was able to get about 3 hours sleep. This floor is very quiet at night. When I
woke back up I became very aware of what my body was telling me, now that the
initial symptoms and the fever were gone. It was telling me how hard it was
working for me. I was aware that my kidneys were working hard to remove all the
white blood cells as well as the spent medicine from my body. My heart was
telling me about how it was trying to stay healthy all the while it continued
to pump the infected blood around. So while the room was quiet there was a war
being waged on the inside!
It's interesting how your body can talk to you when
you take the time to listen to it.
Meanwhile, I was down to just one antibiotic and all
the continuous monitoring was replaced by the tech coming by every several
hours. So I had a lot fewer wires and tubes. I was almost able to be mobile,
but my body was telling me to give it time to continue the battle. So I just
lay there, periodically switching from side to side, and resting as I could in
between nurse/tech/doctor visits. I ordered meals, but didn't eat much of it.
My body just wanted time to do its thing.
The doctor told me that my release criteria was 48
hours after my last fever spike. Since that was the one in the early hours of
Monday, that meant early Wednesday at best. So I decided to just continue
listening to my body and not trying to push it.
Monday night was my best ever. Apart from having to
wake every so often for vitals checks or another dose of my meds, I slept the
entire night. Tuesday, that's today, I felt “normal” whatever that means. I sat
up in bed for an hour, ate my entire breakfast, then got in a chair (with
permission of course), got a sponge bath and fresh gown, brushed my teeth, ate
my entire lunch (food here is excellent), used the bathroom instead of a
urinal, went for a walk (again with permission), and began living again.
My discharge is set for tomorrow afternoon as I can't
miss more than one dose of my IV meds and the home health care person can't see
me at home until Thursday. So now I'm waiting for a delicious supper to arrive
and I'll have a few more good meals and more quiet time tomorrow. But I can't
wait to get back home, to shower and shave (I'm pretty scruffy looking), and
give my family some overdue hugs.
Closing
Thoughts
Listen to your body. If it's telling you to get
medical attention, do it. If it's telling you to give it rest, do it.
Listen to your spouse/significant other/family.
Sometimes they can see what's going on when you can't.
Enjoy the world around you for as long as you have.
There is beauty in many things.
Appreciate those who you come into contact with. I've
been saying thanks to not only the nurses and doctors, but the unsung others
like housekeeping, patient transport, food service, etc. One of the transport
guys this morning has only been doing this for a few weeks, so I complimented
him on learning his way around so well.
And, most importantly, thank the God who gave us such
marvelous bodies. To Him be the glory!
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