Spirometer progress

One of the doctors told Carl that improvement on the spirometer was his "ticket to leave", so he definitely worked on it!

Here is a video of him using it: https://youtu.be/hrRRegsM_8k 

Note that he is breathing *in* (sucking in) to do the measurement. One thing he learned was to blow all air out before starting so he had more lung capacity to breathe in.

Up to 1750!

Carl kept on asking, "Where do I turn this in so I can get my ticket to leave?!?!?"

Moving upstairs

Late Saturday evening, Carl was transferred to an inpatient room upstairs in the hospital...

A much bigger room...

... and private! It had a door between the room and the hallway! Imagine the luxury!

And even an ice bucket thoughtfully provided in the bathroom! (well, maybe not...)

 

Improving breathing

On Friday in the Observation area, a respiratory therapist brought Carl an "incentive spirometer". 

Carl had been saying, "I can only take about 1/2 a breath," or, "Now it feels like I can take about 3/4 of a breath." The respiratory therapist wanted Carl to work on improving that...

On Friday, Carl could only get the spirometer up to about 750. The therapist wanted him to get it up to 1500 -- so, indeed, he was at about 1/2 a breath.

By Saturday, with his pain controlled, Carl was able to get the spirometer up to 1500!!!

At this point, we were thinking that we might be able to head home, but, unfortunately, the medical staff were concerned that his infection would not be addressed by oral antibiotics, so they wanted to admit him to the hospital.

While we were waiting for a room to be assigned (many hours),  

... an imaging tech came by and did a sonogram of his lungs.

Observations in the Observation area

In the Observation area of the Emergency department...

... there were these signs outside some rooms cautioning that the resident was a high fall risk...

... or, when the sign was flipped over, that the resident was just a normal fall risk. We didn't realize when we were in the observation area, but the socks that they give to the patients reflect whether they are a fall risk or not -- yellow socks = fall risk, grey socks = able to transfer and walk unassisted. (Carl had grey socks.)

The Observation area was not a very restful place. While there were walls between the areas where the beds were located, there were only curtains between the rooms and the hallways. Carl's room was right near the doors that led into the Observation area from the regular emergency room so people were being brought in all hours of the day and night and the doors were opening and closing, which was very disruptive.

The second night in the Observation area, the lady in the room next to Carl's got a phone call after 11pm (quiet times were 10pm-6am). She was talking quite loudly... Carl thought, "maybe a few minutes", but after 20 minutes he loudly said, "It is quiet time, please get off your phone!" The lady didn't get off the phone, but talked more quietly for another hour or more... Needless to say, Carl didn't get very good rest. There was no accommodation for a guest in the Observation area, so I went home and took care of (or was taken care of by) Miss Kitty.

Back to the hospital

Thursday (a week ago) found us returning to Banner Gateway hospital... Carl's pain had ramped up and we could not get it controlled at home, so we returned to the Emergency Room. The nurse doing triage was one who had attended Carl on Sunday when we were at the ER.

This time, they did more testing and eventually decided to keep Carl in the Observation area -- also part of the Emergency Department, where they could monitor him more closely and see if the antibiotic and pain management therapies were working for him.

Settled in for the night in the Observation area

Breakfast Friday morning -- when Carl's pain was managed, he really felt amazingly well -- not able to get a full breath, but able to walk around and sit up and enjoy eating.

The status board in the Observation area let us know that he could be discharged at any time.

Lunch -- meatloaf with potatoes and gravy and broccoli -- that was a huge serving of meatloaf and about half a crown of broccoli!

While in Observation, they were able to administer a couple of broad spectrum IV antibiotics which had a better chance of addressing the infection that Carl had. They could also administer pain medications via IV. It took a little while to get the right combination going, but after about 36 hours, Carl's pain was under control and his breathing was becoming easier.

Sinclair fuel stations

When we were out-and-about on Wednesday (we had gone to see Carl's pulmonary care doctor as a follow-up to the Sunday ER visit and were heading home), we saw a Sinclair fuel station.

Carl took a picture to share with his brother -- they used to have one near their house in Elmhurst and would go there to get air for their bike tires.

We have seen other Sinclair stations around our area of Mesa. I don't think we ever had Sinclair stations in Virginia, though I remember their dinosaur logo. I thought that they might be out of business. But it appears they are still active in the southwest and mountain states (https://stations.sinclairoil.com/).

Venture Out Swing Band

On Monday March 9, we enjoyed the talents of several of our neighbors here at Venture Out as the Swing Band presented their annual performance:

They are quite impressive!

If you'd like to hear a 40 second snippet of their performance, check out Carl's video here: https://youtu.be/wiULV9Ki2ok 

We are always amazed by the talent that surrounds us in our community!