And It's One Step Back

We have noticed that Jon has had bouts of sweating even though his arms and legs might be cold. One day his head was as cold as ice but he was drenched in sweat. Sunday he slept most of the day and was running a fever. He was back to saying strange things. He wanted to know where a ball was going to hit him. When asked "what ball" he said "the cannonball."

I noticed on Monday that he was asking for suctioning almost every two hours, especially after being turned. Before I left that night they said they would get a sputum sample and do blood work on Tuesday. When I arrived they added x-rays of his chest and stomach. Later that morning they announced the doctor wanted to send him to the hospital and did I have a preference. I prefer to keep as much with one hospital as possible so it was back to OSU and their emergency room. He had more blood draws, and another set of x-rays. Finally, 6 hours later, they had a room set up and he was admitted. The x-rays of the chest showed a mucous plug--he hasn't had one of those since February-- pneumonia and a high white blood count. They have also started him on flagel again so his c diff is also back.

Wednesday they had a top of the line air bed that does most of the turning for him at the click of a button (today however, it didn't seem to be working.) They have started a new set of treatments and seem to have taken care of the mucous plug (actually there were two) without a broncoscopy. He has a new gadget for practicing deep breathing called an Acapella but nicknamed a pickle for its shape. He has to breathe in slowly (something very hard for him to do) holding the "pickle" in his mouth and then blow out through it so that it makes a fluttering sound. He is getting better at it and we need to do it more often.

The bedsore has not been connected to a wound vac but it was clean enough that it didn't need to be debride. They prefer to treat without the vac at the moment and as long as it is looking good and healing we won't complain. Sometimes a change-up in therapy is what is needed to speed things along.

They have arrived at somewhat of a compromise on the feeding. For the last two days the only nutrition was what he actually ate. Today they added a can of Ensure to breakfast and at noon they gave him a high protein-calorie fruit drink. Tonight they said they were going to connect him to the feeding tube at night only to supplement his meals.

Meanwhile the fancy chair stays at CRSI and if we don't return another one will have to be sent to the new facility. I was hoping to be able to work in the x-rays needed for the neurosurgeon and perhaps a visit there at the hospital and save a trip to his office in June but do to the reasons for his hospitalization they prefer to wait until June.

Marj