A Big Bump in the Road!

It’s been a hectic day. Carol and I headed for Toledo to see Jon about 2:30 this afternoon. We were by-passing Napoleon when we received a phone call from Liberty West saying they were concerned about Jon’s distended stomach and were sending him to St Vincent’s for a CAT scan....he also seemed to be disoriented. As soon as they were done talking with me they were going to call and make arrangements for transport. Knowing how long that takes sometimes, and Carol had planned on using my computer to finish some things that needed taking care of, we decided to go back to my house--about a 15 minute drive.

Around 5 we got back on the road...we had checked with Liberty and he hadn’t left yet so we decided to stop and eat supper. When we were back on the road we called the hospital and he had just arrived. When we were at the exit and nearing the hospital he had just been sent upstairs for the scan. Remembering that Liberty had said he seemed “disoriented” we were amazed to see him completely out of it and on oxygen. His breathing reminded us of the early days in Ft. Wayne and Green Springs when his breathing looked like someone was kicking him in the chest. In talking with the nurse she said he was going to be sent upstairs to the ICU unit and would probably be in the hospital for 3-4 days. It seems he has a severe urinary tract infection which has gone into the kidney...which is also looking damaged. Not necessarily from this episode but possibly from previous episodes--possibly the accident? His condition was labeled septis (a severe illness in which the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria.) When they drained the bladder it was loaded with pus. Then they checked his food tube which evidently didn’t look great either. They removed the tube connection and suctioned 500mL of thick yellow “gunk”-- a new medical term!

While we were there they inserted the dreaded breathing tube down his throat which had an immediate effect on his breathing, blood pressure and heart rate--bp had been low and heart rate high. While he is on the ventilator he will be sedated and pretty much unaware of what is going on. (We couldn’t rouse him at all.) They will however, take him off the sedation medication for a short time each day... to see how well he is doing(?)

He also has a special central line IV placed in the neck for medication and drawing blood. They were adding calcium to his medications because his potassium was high and calcium helps protect the heart. His meds include vancomycin, medazalom HCL/sodium chloride. We asked about a white blood cell count and the nurse gave the number 18 which she said was on the high side but not seriously so. Carol and I are confused because we thought normal ranges were much higher than that but she didn’t say which unit of measurement they were using. In looking up normal counts I found the normal range of 4,500-10,000 white blood cells per microliter (mcL) which sounds more like what we were thinking.

Visiting hours are from 10 to 12 in the morning 2-4 and 5-6 in the afternoon and 9-10 in the evening, 2 visitors at a time. He will however, be completely out of it and totally unaware of your presence. I will be using the blog much more to keep everyone posted. The blog address is www.jonpc.blogspot.com. His room is 115. Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, 2213 Cherry Street,Toledo, Oh 43608-2691