Fever

On Saturday, Mike had another fever - 101.9.
Mike had been struggling with his "gurgles" on Saturday. After dinner, he aide left and he started getting more gurgly. I did everything I could to try to coax him to cough - his neck massager, chest P.T., the nebulizer, rubbing his back..but nothing. Then his breathing became labored and I knew what would be next. Sure enough, his face became flushed and his temperature was 101.9. I picked the kids up from the train station (they had gone into the city to see American Idiot so my brother stayed with Mike for a few minutes while I got them) and then we got Mike into bed. We did more chest P.T. and nebulizer, I used the neck massager again and I thought after we rolled him over as I got him changed, it would help losen things up. Instead, Mike seemed to begin to have more problems breathing. I put the oxygen on him and tried to calm him. Courtney was a little upset - she's been at school since September and has had less time with Mike than she has had in the past, so she was not used to his potential issues. I gave him a Tylenol suppository and by 10pm the fever broke.
When he woke up yesterday, he still had the gurgle. My biggest fear is the day he won't be able to cough up the mucus (the mucus is built up because of Mike's continuing problem with swallowing. At some point, he will not be able to swallow at all, and therefore, he will stop eating. This is what Alzheimer's does. The brain stops working and therefore, cannot tell the body what to do). We had yet another aide in on Sunday, and she too was very good. We tried once again to get Mike to cough up and FINALLY by late morning he did. He coughed and sneezed for some time. When we got him into bed, he still had some gurgle and he coughed that up as he began his nap. He slept soundly, thankfully.
Mike's friend Tom, came to visit while he was sleeping. He's our angel in case anyone doesn't know. He's Mike's ONLY friend that ever visits.
Courtney and I were in the dining room while Mike was having dinner. I heard him cough, but didn't think anything of it. A few minutes later, the aide was in the kitchen washing Mike's dish and she said, "Boy, you should have seen the mucus Mike just coughed up!". This was the last of the menace that was creating the issues and fever for Mike and he FINALLY got it out.
Last night he slept soundly, without fever, but I was up all night checking on him. I'm glad this wasn't the day I dreaded.