Stan's numbers this morning were horrible.
His oxygen levels were so low that his room was a buzz with medical people trying to bring them up. They finally had to paralyze him and sedate him again. The nurses now have standing orders to use their judgement for this....they don't have to call the doctor each time he needs them. They are NOT leaving him in a "coma" like state however. Each time is temporary to get his numbers under control...and only if nothing else seems to work.
I left the area for less than five minutes to get a cup of coffee and missed a visitor. Fortunately, the only other time I left all day was to check out the gift shop with a friend who found it open when she came. It was closed so we went right back up and within ONE minute Stan's "choreographer" doctor (main one over all the others) came to talk to me. So it was a blessing that the shop was closed. (I needed a b'day card....)
The doctor told me that Stan was worse that morning, but was a teeny tiny bit better this afternoon. He once again emphasized that it is his lungs that are the big concern right now, and that I MUST take this one HOUR at a time.
There were lots of things going on....he wanted blood draws from a vein and an artery, but one tube thing wouldn't work for three different "vampires" (that's my sister's name for them, not mine!)...and finally the doctor had to settle for just the one draw, because they couldn't even find a vein to prick. They do chest x-rays each morning....and I was told that today's was worse than yesterday's. But the doctor said the x-ray has a lag time...and that it was showing really what yesterday's condition was. A very large machine was wheeled into Stan's room....moving Brian and me way back in a corner. It was for doing ultra sound on Stan's legs to check for clots. PTL there were no clots there. We also learned that the scans from Thursday of head and chest showed "no changes in his brain swelling or bleeding, and NO clots in his lungs." There is a procedure they will do to keep any leg clots from zipping up to those critical areas...brain, lung, and heart....but don't want to do it as a preventative if there are no leg clots. I am very pleased with the care Stan is getting. I am being told by several people that they are seeing ads on TV that this is THE hospital to be in if you have a stroke. So God really does bless before we even know we need something. Stan would have been in a different hospital but it was full the day he had his stroke.
I am being well cared for, too. Friends and my kids make sure I am fed. Rick Elliott went to Costco to get me some fresh pineapple and came back with his little granddaughter eating a Costco hotdog. I said that was one of my favorite foods....he was going to run right back and get me one. I convinced him not to, but when I was telling the story to another friend she wouldn't take NO for an answer, so I had my hotdog anyway.
Rick did pick up my pictures for me. Brian had left them for developing, and then I didn't get Brian called, so he went for them, too. So you see...all I have to do is "think" of something, and someone is running to do it! (pretty neat pix of my T. Day dinner and our family portrait taken in the cafeteria!!)I keep meeting with others who have loved ones in this CCU unit. There is a family who's member got very sick on his first day of an Alaska vacation...and has been in CCU for seven weeks. Yesterday they asked where I went to church. After observing how loving this group of Christians are, they want to attend there on Sunday!
The pulmonary doctor came later in the day and told me that the right lower lobe of Stan's right lung had collapsed. He even showed my friend Kathy and me the scans from the day before. To get it to re-inflate they are now placing Stan on his side for four hours at a time (each side...rotating him ). Please pray for this to work so that they don't have to do something more invasive to accomplish what needs to be done.
When I left the hospital his number were all pretty good. His blood pressure was up a little, but being attended to.
He has not "officially" responded to any command since surgery. His eyes have not opened since the day in the ER, but he is still very much with us and it IS day TEN!
All of you are very important to us.....I am saving all your emails to share with him, and we keep a list of visitors. We are very blessed.
Love, M
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