Sunday, December 1, 2013

Sick. Still, Again, Something...

So yesterday we almost had our walking papers in hand when he started acting up.  Little higher heart rate, higher oxygen needs, soggy face, you get the picture.  So we decided to watch and wait a little bit longer.  I had some things that needed to be taken care of at home, so I left for a little while.

Just before coming back, I called up and spoke to the nurse.  Should not have done that.  It jinxed us.  Everything was going great!  No issues at all.  Happy and playful or sleeping peacefully the whole time. 

I knew by looks on the faces when I got here that something changed.  That plus the respiratory therapist was standing in the doorway taking off the cover gown and gloves (used to keep his germs from traveling with her to other patients' rooms).  And it was exactly halfway between his treatment times.

He'd had a big mucus plug in his lungs, dropped his sats, and ended up on ten liters of oxygen.  Yes, again.  He was coming down when I got here.  It was either six or eight by that time and he was doing well, but yeah, it kinda put a crimp in things.

Then he did it again this morning at 7:00.  Plus he's got some really thick, copious, nasty snot in his nose.  But in between these episodes, he does pretty good.  Like one to three liters, happy, smiley good.

So the big question is:  is this the last hurrah for his cold, just going out with a party?  Has it turned bacterial (that one's got my vote, antibiotics and we're good to go, right?)?  Or has he picked up something new all together?  All are distinct possibilities.  And he's not telling which one it is. 

Not sure where we go from here.  If he doesn't do it again, I may take him and run tomorrow.  If it crops up again, I think we'll look at repeating labs and tests.  And we'll keep on plugging on. 

Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese Proverb

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