Peep's Little Scare In Skilled Nursing...And Then Some

He was doing so well.  One day he even walked with the help of a walker down to therapy and back.  It wore him out but he did it! His PT was so proud.  She is the best thing since sliced bread!  Her name is Kim and she has become part of the family. The early the next morning Robin got a call from one of the nurses saying that he his blood pressure was going wackier then it usually does.  They were going to keep a close eye on his pressure.  Thirty minutes she called back. They felt like he should be moved to a unit where they could monitor him better.  So he was wheeled back to the Intermediate Intensive Care Unit (third trip).  He was there for a few days and then because his blood pressure is so unpredictable the moved him to PICU.  First time there.

I laughed out loud when I say this.  It is as an advertisement for a Bail Bondsman in Batavia, OH.  The 'criminal' is one of the puppet type things that has a blower but sways in the wind.  Thought it was hilarious.

Progress on the big rock slide clean-up in Chesapeake, OH

Oh, and guess who ran out of the house in such a rush that she forgot a coat.  This idiot.  Not to worry the ladies (Bonnie) took care of me!  I even got to bring it home.  But I will return it on Thursday when I go back.

Good thing because I found snow on the ground when I got up on Friday morning.

My new favorite parking place.  When you go through the doors there is a hallway that connects to the hospital.  Great for when it is cold, windy, or the weatehr is bad.  Molly and Dustin tols mea boutit a long time ago.  Dumb me, I should have been using this all along.

And here we are again.  And me with not a painted rock to hide.

And it is back to the gowns and purple gloves.  Gee, spent some time in this room already.

Last week this is about all he did.  No drinking or eating.  Lots of sleeping.  He also refused to take his meds.

Robin got to practice some of her nursing skills also.

I was able to watch a few movies and paint a few rocks.

We turned the TV on thinking that it would bring him to life.  Nope.

Just a few of his machines and bags.

The EMT (Emergency Medical Team) came a did some testing.  This one was to see if fluids would help bring his BP up.  Results: NO.  They took him for a CT scan and found a huge clot in his bladder.  Dr. Martinez spent an hour irrigating his foley catheter and finally got them all out...for now.

He now had a very large hose three holed catheter that has to be it=rrigated I say once an hour to remove the clots that are blocking the way.  The reason for so many clots is a result of the chemo and radiation for the bladder cancer.

He would try to eat a little bit after two bites he would say that was all he could eat.  Nothing, I mean NOTHING, tastes good.

Just a few things.

This is boxes of bags of fluids that go through the cath about every 30 minutes.  I had a job to set my alarm for 25 minutes, check the bag and if it needed to change, call for the nurse.  One shift he went through 15 bags.  I love being able to help.  They literally spend one whole day in the room with him.  and the day before that two nurses were helping him.  

In between my jobs (changing gowns and beds, too) I got to see some movies...only in about 10 minutes segments...I was up and doing the nursing thing.

This might sound terrible but I knew he wasn't going to eat his trays so I chose some things I liked too,  But I gave thought to what he would like first.  Then added on from there.  Pork tenderloin and parsleyed potatoes were delish.  But you can tell he is on a no salt, no sugar diet.  The nurses would even give me Cokes to drink.

Got a little more snow on Monday morning.

Had a little bit more trouble with that low BP so he got moved to OHIC.  The man has been all over the hospital.  It is hard to keep up with his room numbers.

The view from his new room.  Robin sat and watch the snow during the night.  She said it was beautiful in the lights of the hospital.

They took him down to get a PICC, bed and all. line

a percutaneous indwelling central catheter.

Then the snow began to melt and when it did the forsythia started to bloom.  And there were some little pink bushes that were busting out too.