My birthday in the hospital

Today - January 26th - is my birthday



Not the place I had hoped to spend it.....

but Josh is sick....

so we are in the hospital.







It's not fun when Josh is sick, but it did NOT ruin my birthday.

Josh gave me a card that Nurse Nancy brought up for him to work on for me. He wrote in it that he is glad we get to hang out together. It was sweet.
(I'm glad to get to spend the whole day with him, too)


Nancy and Jenny (Josh's home nurses) came to the hospital and brought us gifts and us girls went to lunch together in the hospital cafeteria while Josh ate up in his room.




This evening, my sister brought a bithday cake and dinner up to the hospital and my mom called to join in singing me "Happy Birthday" before I blew out my imaginary candles. We sliced up the cake and even shared small pieces with the hospital nurses... but sh! don't tell. :)




So, how is Josh doing?
He still has pneumonia in both lungs and is still fighting the flu (all we know is it's Influenza A).

He had a visit from his endocrinologist (Dr. Danney) early this morning who said all the tests Josh had in his office a week or so ago came back with good results. He told Josh he hoped the spot noticed on the CT scan from yesterday might only be a nodule of pneumonia (instead of a tumor). We would find out for sure after another scan scheduled for today.


Josh was very dehydrated yesterday and his urine output low but very concentrated. Overnight, he got IV fluids after getting his PICC line put in. Even though he took his DDAVP which is supposed to help him hold in his fluids, he was up in the night and again early morning peeing out LOTS (a urinal full each time). By just before 11AM, Josh had an output of like 2,000 ccs - nearly twice his input level. It was a little alarming. His nurse called Dr. Danney back for his advice/orders as I was going to lunch with our home nurses. When I got back, Josh's hospital nurse told me Dr. Danney said he wanted me (not one of the nurses) to give Josh a dose of his DDAVP (since I had the most experience giving it to him - :) ). So, I gave it to him and he it seemed to help.


Josh's lung doctor (Dr. Patel) who wanted him admitted to the hospital in the first place came in a little later in the morning. He told us a few things of interest: first, he is sending a rep from a different DME (durable medical equipment) company to see us probably later today, he wants to recommend we replace Josh's current ventilator (the LTV 950) with one called the Trilogy from Respironics.

And I asked Dr. Patel how long he thought Josh might need to stay in the hospital. He said at least until Friday - maybe longer. He also wanted to order a special breathing treatment to help break up some of the pneumonia in the base of Josh's lungs. Josh had two sessions of that treatment and wow it's different, but it seems to work really well.

Oh, and Josh started to complain that he couldn't hear out of his left ear (just as Dr. Patel was outside writing up orders) so I called the doctor back in to check it out. He took a look with a scope and said Josh's ear was infected, but the antibiotic he's on for the pnuemonia should clear it up, too.

After lunch and his dose of the DDAVP nose spray I gave him, Josh was loaded onto a wheelchair and I was asked to come help get him, along with his ventilator and an oxygen tank down to the CT scanner again for the test the hematologist ordered there - one with contrast. We had to stop once along the way and I had to suction Josh because some gunk came up and was clogging his trach. Luckily, we have his suction stuff right on his cart. Once we got there, they let me stay inside (as long as I wore a heavy apron) while they did this scan. Josh did very well. And we loaded him back up and brought him and his stuff back up to his room.


The respiratory therapist who accompanied us told me there is another patient on Josh's floor who has the vent Dr. Patel is recommending for us. She took me down to let me look in through the window at the vent (so I could see for myself how compact it was). She said it is fairly new and seems to have great features. She too thinks we will love it. So, Josh and I are anxious to hear from the new DME company rep and see when we'll have everything set up for him to get the new ventilator.


Below is a picture of the Trilogy ventilator:


Here is a link to a site with much more information on the Trilogy:

http://http//trilogy100.respironics.com/

We should find out in the next couple of days if or when we'll get this new ventilator for Josh.... and we expect to hear results about the spot found in Josh - whether its a tumor or not... and what if anything will be done about it.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to everybody who sent me a birthday greeting to my email and/or Facebook account. There are so many of you. I really appreciated seeing your greetings. It did help light up my day!


I do wish I could have gotten the chance to see, hold and spoil my brand new grandbaby on my birthday.... but I don't want to chance getting him sick. I plan to spend plenty of time after we go home hugging and kissing and loving on baby Logan.

Josh Hospitalized

We are in the hospital again.

Josh had a really scary night last night (well it was scary for me). We were without a nurse at home and Josh had been de-satting (his oxygen saturation levels were low).

I had him on extra oxygen and even raised his pressure control on his ventilator (to push the air in a little harder) but he was still not getting enough oxygen and his carbon dioxide levels were too high (he wasn't breathing out enough of the bad air).

He had lots of secretions (gunk in his nose and throat, coming up through his trach). It was mostly all yellow - which is usually a sign of infection.

And his temperature was nearly 101. Tylenol and ibuprofin were not bringing his fever down either.

I got him as stable as I could and we slept on the living room couches so I could be beside him all night. We were up at least every 4 hours, suctioning and medicating.

I called his lung doctor's office just before noon and the on call doctor told me to take Josh to the E.R.

I figured they would want to admit him once we got there, so I started to pack stuff and throw clothes in the washer (so my hubby could put them in the dryer and have clean clothes for work). I was also waiting for my sister to bring me some lunch (Josh wouldn't eat). I got all Josh's meds together and when I went to get an oxygen canister to take, we had trouble with the piece that goes on to regulate how much oxygen comes out. It was missing an O ring and would not work. It took a while of trying to look for the O ring, trying to rig one and then finally realizing we had another whole controller new in a box. Once we found it, and got it on, it was nearly 1PM!

Loaded in the van, my sister came with me to help with Josh and his stuff. We were making good time most of the way across San Antonio. But then we hit terrible traffic. So, a trip that should have taken no more than 35-40 minutes took more like an hour. We made it to the hospital just before 2PM.

The good news is, they got us in right away to a triage room.

They did some blood work, swabbed for strep and flu tests and did a chest xray.

The first results were from the chest xray. The doctor said Josh had density in the bottom of both lungs. They didn't know what it was from, but wanted to see it better, so they ordered a CT scan.

After wheeling through the hospital to radiology for the scan and back, it wasn't too long until results were back on it and from the swabs. Josh has pneumonia with some collapse and he tested positive for the flu! He had the flu shot this year, but not the H1N1 shot - not yet (we were waiting for him to get over this cold or respiratory infection - he had already had a course of antibiotics he started 2 weeks ago and had tested negative for flu then).

The nurses could not get an IV going in him, so they were giving him medications by pill and shots (Tamiflu by pill and a 2 big shots of antibiotics - one in each cheek). We are told he will have a pic line placed in the morning and he will receive further medications through it.

Yes, he is being admitted to the hospital. But it is now coming up on 10PM and we are still in the triage room of the ER, waiting on a room upstairs.

Josh is sleeping, though right now. And he has eaten a little and drank alot of gatoraid and some water.

His oxygen saturation levels are still lower than they should be and his ETCO2 levels are too high. Hopefully tomorrow they'll be much better after a night of rest and the antibiotics and Tamiflu have a chance to work.

Please pray for Josh and for me. This is going to be a trying week. Oh, by the way, Tuesday is my birthday - and I'll be spending it in the hospital with Josh.

I'll end this with a happy note, though. Josh's sister, Steffany gave birth to her baby boy Friday night (01-22-10). He was 8 pounds 14 ounces and 19 inches long. He is a beautiful baby boy.

Tonight, both of my children are hospitalized - in two different hospitals - one down the road from the other. Steffany and the baby will likely get to go home tomorrow. Josh, though, will probably be in for several more days (even though I don't tell him that).