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.