29 Hours Without Sleep

On Monday, when I came home from work, I knew there was a problem with Mike. He was hunched over and making almost a groaning noise. A short time later I took his temperature and it registered 100.9. We got Mike into bed early Monday night so that I could give him a Tylenol suppository. He continued moaning, which for obvious reasons, gets Courtney and Brandon very upset. Who wants to see someone they love, especially a parent suffer? I laid in bed with Mike until he calmed down. I took his temperature again at 9pm and it was 102.9. I was very nervous and even though Mike is on hospice, my past experience with them has not given me the confidence I needed to call them. IF someone got back to me, what would they be able to do? Needless to say, I got very little sleep Monday night.

At 8:30 yesterday morning, I put a call into hospice. When Mike woke up, he didn't seem to have a fever anymore, but he still seemed to be in discomfort. He ate all his breakfast and drank about 3 glasses of juice and Ensure. The nurse came by around 12:30 to check on him. I had asked if they could perform blood tests, and she was hesitant. I asked if they could check his urine (for a UTI) and they seemed to hesitate with that also. They finally conceded and got a urine speciman. They sent a technician over to perform a chest x-ray and when I called for the results, I was told it was "all clear". But by this time (approx. 4pm), Mike was STILL breathing VERY FAST and I was quite concerned. I questioned a possible infection in his bloodstream (sepsis) and it was then that they suggested that I take him to the hospital where they are equipped to do all the testing they needed to. They arranged for an ambulance to get Mike and we got to the hospital by 5:30 last night. The kids decided to stay home for a bit, have dinner and then come up later. Courtney brought me the car so I had a way of getting home and my brother picked them up. They have their tri-mester tests this week and next, and had to get home to study. They left the hospital at about 8:30 p.m.

By this time, Mike's breathing had slowed up alot, yet it still was not "normal". Preliminary tests showed "possible pneumonia" in the lower left lung - what a surprise. The same exact shadow they see each and every time Mike is admitted to the hospital - for anything. Alot of his functions were "off" which would indicate an infection, but they could not pinpoint it yet. He did have a sore on his buttocks which they were concerned about. That happened VERY quickly at home over the course of about 3 days.

While in the ER I had asked the doctor to check out Mike's shoulder. Remember, the one that swelled up about 2 weeks ago which when Hospice finally x-rayed for me, showed that is was "normal". Well the doctor was SHOCKED and said it was obviously dislocated. For two weeks Mike has been enduring the pain of a dislocated shoulder and I did not know it. That news put me over the edge. I tried to get answers for him, but no one would listen and when they did, the x-ray was obviously not done right. Well, the ortho Dr. spent almost all last night working with Mike's shoulder to get it back into place. About 7 x-rays later, a shot of morphine and an arm sling, they thought it was fianlly back in place. Well tonight, it looked out again. The doctor explained to me that because it has been out of it's socket for 2 weeks, it will be difficult to get it to stay in place.

Synposis - Mike is in the hospital and he has a dislocated shoulder, 2 bed sores, and an infection somewhere. He is now on 4 very strong antibiotics that would kill "anything" they said and cover all bases since they're not sure where the source is coming from. They do not think he is septic, but his levels are off in different areas.

I woke up at 7am Tuesday morning and here I am now. After 29 hours of no sleep, I came home and slept for 2 1/2 hours while my mom and Walter stayed with Mike. When the kids got home from school, we all went back to the hospital and stayed until about 8:30 p.m. I knew I would have no time tomorrow to Blog, so that's why I am writing now. This has taken me a LONG time because of all the mistakes I was making from my sheer exhaustion.

I pray that they will figure out the source of Mike's infection and that he can be home for Christmas. We spent one Christmas in the hospital, we would rather not do it again. As for shopping, decorating, cleaning etc. Yeah right??!!! 29 hours of no sleep has finally taken it's toll and I'm going to bed.