And We're Off to St. Vincent's in Toledo

I got a call this evening from Brookview about 6:15 with the news that Jon had been taken to the emergency room at Mercy Hospital here in Defiance. Seems he had passed out and was unresponsive. Someone had called the police who called the emergency squad. They had to "bag" him--give him a hefty dose of oxygen--to get him to come around. By the time I got to the hospital they had already done a chest x-ray which came back clear and a blood alcohol test which had a zero score...thank goodness! Shortly after I arrived they did a quick EKG test. I was doing something for him-can't remember what and she was done and had all the "spots" off before I knew she had even started a reading! Didn't hear anything back on that test and I think probably it was okay.

They did another round of blood draws--3 vials divided among 6 bottles with each vial taken from a different part of his body. These were to determine if he has any kind of bacterial infection but the cultures take from 48 to 72 hours to "breed and read." (My terminology-not theirs!) They did start him on a course of antibiotics through an IV -rocephin. The phlegm that he had been coughing up was, in the current vernacular, "nasty looking" so something is going on for certain. There was one time when it contained what looked like an anemic square of tomato and he said he had eaten mexican for supper so it may be that he had aspirated and didn't realize it or thought he had it all coughed up. He had an oxygen mask on and I had a hard time understanding him.

I had thought to bring my health power of attorney papers but not his medicaid card so I headed home for that and his glasses which were still at the fire station. Before I left he asked me to empty his foley bag but the nurses had already done that. I was a little concerned that in 2 hours he only had about 25 ccs. When I came back in less than an hour it was up to 75 ccs so I was feeling a little better.

Jon's regular doctor is on vacation, of course, and the doctor covering for him was concerned that if Jon took a turn for the worse and needed more intensive treatment neither of the 2 hospitals here would be able to take care of him...so at 10:10 he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo which does have an ICU. Just before leaving he had a second breathing treatment which should have broken things up more.

Hmmm, forgot something and don't know where to insert it so here it is...it seems that he had a coughing spell on the way home from a buddy's and he leaned way forward to cough better but he couldn't get himself back up to a regular sitting position. This does something for a normal person's ability to breathe and certainly is not good for Jon and that's why he had passed out and was unresponsive when the paramedics arrived. He's missing his tank top so I'm guessing it got cut off--hope it wasn't his birthday shirt I just got him!

Thanks for checking in--the long spells between posts are mostly due to the fact that healthwise he's been doing so well. I've been bragging that he's not had anything major since the second week in January. i get discouraged with his other shenanigans and you probably don't need to hear about all of them anyway. I rented a van last week-end and took him to Columbus for his father's surprise 80th birthday party and he seemed to have a good time.

Thanks for checking in. He shouldn't be there more then 3 days or so but St. Vincent Medical Center's address is 2213 Cherry Street, Toledo, OH 43608-2801. Will keepyou posted.