I knew a full good day was too good to be true...  Ron's stomach started to hurt this evening at about 7:00 or so, and got progressively worse.  By 8:30 he asked me to ask the nurse, Frank, for something like Maalox to help his stomach.  Before Frank could get a doctor's order for something, the pain was up to a level 7 (out of 1-10).  By 9:30 it was an 8, and Frank gave him some Fentanyl.  Then the pain moved to his back, and was going up and down his back.  At 9:45 the resident came to evaluate, consulted by phone with Dr. Tita, and ordered a chest x-ray to make sure that the chest tube had not moved, and that his lung had not collapsed again.  At 10:45 the pain was still very bad, 8-9 when they got here to do the chest x-ray.  By 11:30, both the resident and Dr. Tita checked the x-ray, compared it to the ones from this morning and yesterday, and it looked the same.  They ordered another dose of Fentanyl, and Ron is finally asleep... 11:45.  Still not sure what is causing the pain.  Stomach sounds fine - normal sounds.  Lungs sound bad, but like they have been sounding.  They will keep checking on him all night.  I'm going home...  G'night
 
Love,
EJ
 
 
 

They moved Ron back from 127 ICU to 108, the step-down unit down the hall, at about 2:00 this afternoon.  The cardiologist, Dr. Maaieh, said the echocardiogram done yesterday showed his heart is strong, not damaged at all from his three tachycardia episodes.  He said, again, how the heart is so sensitive, and it is probably just reacting to the pneumothorax pushing everything aside in his chest, and then everything shifting back.  He had the ICU nurse discontinue the Cardizem drip as of 12:10 p.m.  She watched him until 2:00 before they moved him, to make sure he was doing OK without it.
 
I also talked to the Infectious Disease doctor, Dr. Awad, who said that at the moment, the pneumonia is not active.  No cultures, blood or sputum came back positive for strep pneumonia or acinetobacter.  The CT scan showed scarring on his lungs, but no areas are actively infected.  His temperature and white count are normal, and temp has stayed down all day.  His chest tube site is healing well, and is not hurting unless he really moves.  She said to pray that he stays with no infections!  They discontinued the Cefepine antibiotic as of Monday afternoon.
 
I missed the pulmonologist, which I guess was just the resident.  Ron said someone told him Dr. Tita and Mohajen don't do regular rounds on Tuesdays.  I want to talk to one of them tomorrow.  I want to know when they think they may be ready to send him back to Regency, or if he can stay here at St. V's until the chest tube comes out.  I do not want him having the heart tachycardia episodes at Regency...  The nurses have all told me to voice that concern to them.  It seems that the chest tube and the tachycardia have some connection, whether or not the pulmonologists have ever seen a chest tube cause such a problem. 
 
They did not give him any more blood last night (after the first unit caused such a terrible reaction.)  They had planned to give him 2 units, as his hemoglobin was down to 7.5.  His morning bloodwork showed it was 7.7 today, which is a little low (12-15 is normal) but not extremely so.  They want to just keep him stable right now.
 
He ate pretty well today, and so far (knock on wood) it has been a good day!  His heart is behaving itself for the first time in 4 days!  He looks much better than yesterday, overall.  Yesterday was VERY scary! Watching him shake and turn blue with 3 heated blankets on him and that phone call at 5:20 this morning were the worst parts of this whole thing since the first two or three days back in February.  It has been 5 weeks as of today, that he's been on a ventillator.
 
Thanks for all the prayers, supportive notes and emails, help with the dogs, and hugs.
 
Love,
EJ
 
 
 

When I left the hospital last night at 12:30 a.m., Ron was still in tachycardia: heart rate was 160 and had been since 9:15.  The Lopressor and Cardizem they were giving him lowered his blood pressure way down, to 70's/50's.  His nurse, Frank, called me at 5:30 a.m. (after I had just gotten to bed at 2:30 a.m. -- that made my heart drop into my stomach!!) and said they had moved him back over to regular ICU unit -- room 127 again -- to keep a closer eye on him.  His blood pressure had dropped into the 60's/50's!!  I called his nurse in ICU, Lisa, and she said that as soon as they moved him, his heart rhythm converted to a sinus rhythm, and rate came down to 90's.  His blood pressure went back up to 95/70, and he was watching TV.  If things stay stable this morning, they will probably move him back to the step-down unit again.
I'm getting ready to head back up there to be there, hopefully, when the doctors come in.

Love,
EJ