This is me

Source: American Illiterati blog

Brady off-leash

Brady off leash. Most of the time I still walk the old guy on a leash, but sometimes he seems to do better without one. I think because he’s unsure of his footing. This way he only steps where he feels somewhat confident that he can stabilize himself.

Feeding the old boy

Thanks for the comfy slippers, Daddy!!

My dear husband left me his slippers under the table near the couch in case I needed them. I found that I couldn't really use them, but hadn't gotten around to telling him he could go ahead and put them away. Then Cat Girl found them. I had to take a picture before taking the slippers away. Such a weird cat...

The evil monitoring device

My nemesis. I freaking HATED this machine. It was always beeping at me, and I had a headache most of the time. There was a squiggly line representing my oxygen levels, one for my respiration, and one for my heart rate. People kept coming in and bothering me every time the machine beeped and didn't stop until someone came to do something.

At some point my blood pressure was high, causing nurses to come in MORE often to check my blood pressure. (I never have high blood pressure--if anything, it is typically on the low side.) But basically, I got my arm squeezed really tight on a regular basis. Not so comfy.

Once I was allowed to sit up in a chair, I could watch the monitor and work to bring my heart rate down. Or I could make sure the little tubes were securely inside my nose, and take several breaths through those tubes, and bring my O2 levels up to a level that made the machine stop making noise. I'm still not sure why I needed to be on oxygen, but even my very last night in the hospital, I still had these stupid tubes in my nose. so even if I finally fell asleep, if I moved at all, and my oxygen levels reflected that, someone had to come in and fuss about something.

Anyway, that's why I wrote that I said on Facebook that I was working on my biofeedback skills. I just wanted the bad noise to stop, because it was making my headache worse, and I had no way of making a headache go away. Tylenol was useless, and I couldn't have Excedrin, the only thing that had EVER worked for my headaches, and Excedrin is what caused my ulcers in the first place.

It's all pretty much a blur...

...but here's what my hubby shared on Facebook while I was in the hospital:

Written on Tuesday at 1:02 a.m.

Just got home from 10 hours in the ER and ICU with Renee. She came home from teaching Friday complaining of flu-like symptoms and just sacked out. Saturday it wasn't better. Sunday she was having dizziness. We went to the ER to have her checked out. They think the symptoms were because of bleeding in her stomach or esophagus. She had an NG tube and they pumped 300ml of ruddy goo out of her stomach. They gave her 4 units of blood and I don't know how many bags of various clear stuffs. Her color is a lot better. There's no more red coming up the NG tube. So, the bleeding has probably stopped. We have a GI consult in the morning and they may put a scope down her to see what is going on. Prayers and good vibrations are more than welcome!

Various Facebook friends replied, and at 8:18 a.m. on Tuesday, Demetrius wrote...

Thanks, everyone! I got a call this morning that her hemoglobin count was stable at 8 after getting the 4 units of PRBC (packed red blood cells.) It was at 4 when she checked in. The nurse joked that she looks "about a quart low". And, that turned out to be pretty accurate! 7 is the cut-off for transfusing. So, she's above the hatch marks on the stick now to continue the automotive analogy. They took the tube out of her stomach. And, she's resting. I'm going back in once the GI consult comes in. I'll post more news when I have it.Then Tuesday at 3:40 p.m.The endoscope revealed 3 ulcers in her stomach. One showed signs of recent bleeding. That was probably the culprit. They clamped it and closed it. Now, they are watching her blood count. She'll be in for at least another day.

Wednesday at 12:03 a.m.

Renee's hemoglobin count is still hovering around where it was after the transfusion. That's good. Hopefully, she kicks production into gear and it starts to go up soon. She seems to be resting comfortably. She's still being fed intravenously. Sure... It's all cool and Matrix-y. But, she REALLY wants to be able to have something with actual flavor! That has to wait until they know they don't need to go back into her stomach.

Wednesday at 2:13 p.m.

I got to Renee's room and she was sitting up in a chair. Yay! Her blood count is still holding. And, she will be moving out of the ICU into a "step down" room. She's FINALLY having her clear liquids - chicken broth and Jello. (Yay, again!)

Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

They offered her actual solid food this afternoon. So, they think her stomach can take it. She's out of the ICU and in a regular room. Maybe home soon? (fingers crossed)
..................

Anyway, that's what Demetrius shared. I got out of the hospital on Friday, and everything since then is a blur. I've spent most of that time either sleeping or wishing I could fall asleep.

Going to go do that sleep thing now.

Excedrin is the devil

I was released on Friday, but didn’t get any sleep at all that night. I may have gotten about four hours last night. In the whole time I was in the hospital, I got no more than 5 hours of sleep.

The night before my release, having been told that could POSSIBLY be released on Friday, I was still wearing a band on my wrist indicating that I was not allowed to get up without calling someone for help. I acquired that band AFTER being moved from ICU to a regular room.

OGT

Son is taking the reading portion of the Ohio Graduation Test today. There are five sections, and students need to pass all of them before graduation. Traditionally, students take the test for the first time in the spring of their sophomore year, and they only have to take a section again if they don't pass it. Son didn't have a sophomore year, because when he started at the online school this year, we discovered that his number of credit hours made him an 1th grader. So he's got testing every morning this week. And will still have school work to do after that. I anticipate much complaining.