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.