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!

Subway's Million Meatball Monday

Subway sandwich stores regularly have "Meatball Monday" where they have a special price on their 6" meatball sub. On Monday, March 9, Meatball Monday coincided with National Meatball Day, so they decided to run a promotion to serve a million meatballs in one day. Carl had gotten the promotion information (you could get a foot-long meatball sub for the special price on the 6", but you had to ask for it at the store, it wasn't advertised -- also, participating locations only). https://newsroom.subway.com/2026-03-05-Subway-R-Seeks-to-Serve-1-Million-Meatballs-on-National-Meatball-Day-with-Free-Footlong-Upgrades

So, we headed out to a nearby Subway... we asked if they were a participating location, they were not. We headed to another one -- initially they said that they were participating, but then they said they were not... so we left. By this point, it was a quest, so, before heading to a third location (they are all within 5 miles of where we live), I called and the manager there said, "Yes! We are participating!"

At the Subway

Carl's footlong meatball sub (and my 6" Chicken Teriyaki Onion sub) 

Cheap seniors, trying to save money, spending all their savings in fuel!

A detour on Sunday

On Sunday early morning (overnight), Carl woke up with pain in his side. He thought that maybe he had slept wrong, but he was having difficulty getting a full breath. After getting up, he got on his computer and had some coffee, and thought that things were okay, or at least, not as bad as overnight. We got ready and were driving to church when he said that he didn't think he was going to be able to be comfortable sitting in church, and maybe we should go to the emergency room instead. 

We headed to Banner Gateway ER and they took him in pretty quickly...

The ER has different "zones" -- he was initially placed in the Green Zone...

... you notice that he is in nice slacks... we were definitely overdressed for the ER. The Green Zone room was a regular room, with glass sliding doors covered by curtains separating patients from the other parts of the Green Zone activity.

A sign in the room indicated that we would probably be moved to a test results waiting area before discharge, and, indeed, they did move him...

... to the Red Zone. In this area, there were just curtains around each area...

Each area had a lounge-type chair, and some of them had a side chair. Some of the areas were only large enough for the lounge chair, and right next to you was a curtain and on the other side of the curtain was another patient in their lounge chair, sometimes talking on the phone, sometimes coughing... it was pretty uncomfortable.

Most of the other people in the Red zone were there for just a short time; the nurse would come to give them their discharge instructions and they would be on their way. 

We had been in the green zone for about two hours when Carl was moved to the red zone. Then we waited for test results. The "provider" (they aren't called "doctors" because they might be nurse practitioners, or physician assistants, or MDs) came and gave a preliminary result of pneumonia, but he wanted to do a CT with contrast for further results. We waited for 1.5+ hours for the young lady to come to transfer him for the CT scan. 

Carl in the red zone

Ultimately, we were at the ER for about 7 hours, and went home with prescriptions for 2 antibiotics and a pain med. 

A new toy at the Bocce ball courts

When we played Bocce Friday a week ago, we had the opportunity to use a new device that they have for the bocce ball courts -- a laser measure. 

The game of bocce has each team try to get their balls as close as possible to the palina. Determining which ball is closest is used in determining which team throws their ball next, and which team scores. Sometimes it is easy to determine which ball is closest just by looking, but sometimes it is not. We have had tape measures that are mounted on top of a cylinder that fits over the palina -- we pull out the tape measure and check the distance to "ball 1" and then "ball 2" to see which is closer (ball 1 would belong to one team, and ball 2 to the other team). 

In this case, the two balls in question were more than 2' away from the palina, and using the tape measure they appeared to be equi-distance. But recently, the courts had received laser measuring devices, and this was the first time either of the two teams that were playing had the opportunity to try it out... The balls that were being measured had been thrown from our end of the court -- generally the team members at the other end of the court do the evaluation, and generally only two people (one from each team) do the evaluation. In this case, because there was interest in the new device, the bench emptied, even a guy from our end of the court went along with a fellow from the next door lane who had used the laser measuring device previously -- I didn't go, so I got the pictures...

A great confab on the bocce ball court as everyone watched one fellow use the new laser measuring device...

"Blue has the closest ball!" (not our team, but you can see the celebration as it was determined!)

Our matches are really just for fun (and maybe bragging rights), so before having the laser measuring device, we would have just said that it was a tie and gone on to the next "end" without changing the score. In this case, the laser measuring device determined that the balls were within 0.02' of each other (about 1/3"). And... it is always fun to have a new tool to play with!