Hello folks,
Long time, no post
Well, it's a long story, it started on April 29th after midnight when I came home from work to find my wife having a major difficulty breathing. I took her to the hospital. After they did some tests to find out what's wrong with her, they discovered she had a congestive heart failure. There were fluids being built up from the lungs and some of the fluids got pushed into the lining of her heart, which caused her to have the congestive heart failure.
She ended up staying in the hospital for 1 week and 6 days. During that time, they were working on getting the fluids out of her lungs and heart. They administered Lasix to help her get rid of the fluids. She was on oxygen to help her breathe better. Her oxygen level was running at 60% if memory served me correctly.
Blood tests came back from a renal test and her kidney efficiency showed to be running at 12%, last year in March of 2007 it was at 75%. Her diabetes was the cause of her renal failure. It also explained why she was bloating, which was something at the time we didn't understand why. Her body was retaining too much water, so her kidneys was failing to do the job to get rid of excess fluids.
Cardiologists came in to run some medications to see which will help her heart from defribulating, the upper chamber of her heart was fluttering while the lower chamber was running at a normal rhythm. They finally got it under control within a week of trial and error.
The renal doctor told my wife she will have to start doing dialysis within the 3 to 6 month time frame. She before that happened, she had to have surgery to have a permanent cater inserted in her left arm. First they have to merge some blood vessels together on that arm to make a one fine and straight line before the cater is inserted. So she had the surgery done on her lower left arm to merge the vessels together. She was supposed to be due back within 3 weeks to see if it healed properly and then schedule to have the upper arm done.
On the day my wife got checked out from the hospital, we met with the nurse that gave us a list of medications that shows what medications my wife can continue to take, what to drop and what new medications she will be taking as well as the scripts for us to take to the pharmacist. One of the drug that wasn't checkmarked as either "continue" or "discontinued", it was my wife's Avapro. So the nurse said to go ahead and continue taking it.
We had an appointment to return to the hospital on May 13th for more blood tests, also to see the renal doctor who's office was right across the street from the hospital. So we went there and had her blood drawn. Then we went to see the renal doctor. The blood test came back within an half hour for the doctor. The doctor came in with bad news, her kidneys had dropped to 9% and after reviewing the papers, she was surprised that my wife was still on Avapro. She told the nurses to have my wife discontinue it. Finding out the checkout paperwork, the doctor became pretty upset.
So the dialysis had to be bumped up ahead of schedule. The doctor asked my wife to check into the hospital on the very next day since this became an emergency. The planned surgery on my wife's left arm would have to be postponed. So instead they were gonna insert a cater on her left shoulder area and get the dialysis started the very next day.
So we checked in the next day and got her in a room. The surgery was planned on the next day of check-in. My wife was worried and scared. I sat with her and held her close while she cried. The nurses gave her some Lasix to get rid of any fluids prior to surgery.
Surgery day: 8:30 AM they came for her and took her downstairs to have the surgery done. I waited in the waiting room. An hr and half later, a doctor took me into a private room. They told me that during the surgery, my wife's lungs had collapsed and ended up having another congestive heart failure. She wound up being on the ventilator. She was taken to ICU.
I was crying my eyes out when I saw her being on tubes and wires. She did not look good. She looked very, very bad. My wife has a very bad gag reflex and she was coughing and throwing up while being on the vent. She later ended up having pneumonia because her gag reflex was causing her to suck back fluids into her lungs. She had to be sedated to keep her from having these gag reflexes.
The first two weeks at the hospital was very stressful. She still could not breathe on her own and her heart rate as well as her blood pressure was going like a complete yo-yo. She ended up going into the 2 week limit on the vent, so they had to put a tracheotomy into her throat. Two days after the trac surgery, she got transferred to another hospital that specializes on helping patients get off of the dependency of the ventilator. She'll be working with a Respirator Therapist that will help slowly wean her off of the vent, as well as there will be Physical Therapists to help her get her muscle strength back.
My wife had been sedated for almost a month before they decided to take her off of it. It took forever for it to wear off because since she's a renal patient, instead of the medications going to her kidneys to flush them out, it's sitting in her fatty tissues. So that takes time for it to wear off. Plus her dialysis also help speed things up a bit, slowly but surely.
It also took a month for the new hospital to regain control of her heart rate which had been running at 120-140 BPM. She's now back down at the upper 60s and lower 80s. Much to my big relief. They're still having trouble getting her BP under control. It keeps dropping and they have to give her meds to artificially inflate it.
Right now my wife is awake and communicative, but still very weak physically. She can sit up now and scratch her nose and stuff, but she was to be careful when moving around.
All in all, she has a very long way to go before she can be well enough to come home. Keep my wife in your prayers and give good thoughts for her.
Miss ya guys!
Yiz
My Wife's In The Hospital
by Yizuman 145 Replies latest jw friends
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Yizuman
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Hope4Others
I'm sorry to here your wife has been very ill, she has been through quite a lot and no doubt stress and concern on your part. I wish her a speedy recovery and my thoughts do go out to you. Things always go better when you are there for one another, and she knows she is loved.
Give your wife my best if she knows about Jwd,
Hope4others
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carla
In my thoughts.
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nameless_one
How awful; that sounds very frightening, for both of you. I am sure it has been a comfort for your wife to have you at her side through all of this.
Sending positive thoughts for both of you, and wishes for a smooth road to recovery. -
FlyingHighNow
Oh, Yiz, this sounds like a very frightening ordeal for both of you. How old is your wife may I ask? How long has she had diabetes? I cannot imagine how she gets through this. I will most definitely pray for her and for you. Do you have children?
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LovesDubs
wow...well documented. I was there with you :( Hopefully things will start looking up for her soon!
LD
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Yizuman
Oh, Yiz, this sounds like a very frightening ordeal for both of you. How old is your wife may I ask? How long has she had diabetes? I cannot imagine how she gets through this. I will most definitely pray for her and for you. Do you have children?
It had been a big ordeal alright. My wife is 53, I'll be 44 in August. She had diabetes since in her late 30s. I have 2 step kids, both are adults now.
One thing I failed to mention about the Avapro is that when she was back on it, the Avapro damaged her kidneys, which is why she dropped from 12% to 9% in less than a week. So we're pretty upset that the do and don't list wasn't accurately filled out. If my wife hadn't been back on Avapro, her plans for dialysis would not ended up being sooner than it should.
Also, when she had the tracheotomy surgery done, they didn't do it right. Because the Respiratory Therapist at the hospital where my wife is now examined her throat area, he looked at it with disgust and told me that the surgery was a "hack job" and it was the worse he's ever seen. Her hole in her throat is bigger than the tubing that's inserted in her throat. So they have to do special dressing in that area to keep it clean and from being infected. Hopefully it'll heal properly over time.
So I contacted an attorney that specializes in medical law and he told me that he agrees that these two issues, the Avapro and the tracheotomy surgery does sound like a major screw up. So he advised me to see him AFTER she comes home from the hospital. (in which case it could be months before that can happen) So he can examine the case a bit more closely. He doesn't want to discuss it now for fear of compromising her medical care. If the word, "lawyer" comes to play, the hospital may suddenly refuse to care for her out of fear from getting sued.
Another issue I got going is that I got a call from the hospital from a case manager that handles my wife's medical case and asked me if I had gotten any letters or calls from my wife's welfare social worker in regard to her Medicaid. I said no I did not. Come to find out that they canceled her Medicaid on the second day after she transferred to the new hospital. I was like, "WTF???". So they asked me to call them right away and ask them why. So I've been calling them for the past two days with no avail. No call backs or anything. Since they're close today for the holiday, I'll try again next week Monday. She does have Medicare, but I am worried since Medicare only covers 80% of the medical bills, we need her Medicaid to help cover the rest, meaning we're hoping she has the full coverage that she needs.
I started a new job last week, the job I previous mentioned in my last topical post is gone due to the fact that I missed 3 points worth of work during my 90 day probationary period. Those 3 points were all due to what's been going on with my wife. That 3rd point that did me in is when I got a call from my wife's cousin who was visiting my wife at the old hospital and told me to get my butt down there because my wife's BP was dropping and the nurses was having a bitch of a time trying to keep it from falling. I got down there like my ass is on fire (and I got lucky I didn't get stopped). We were all down there bawling our eyes out and my wife was too, even tho she was heavily sedated. It was amazing that she knew what was wrong. But because we were there crying our eyes out, it made her more determined to live. Then her BP went back up, much to our relief. The nurses looked at the monitor with disbelief, they just had about given up on her. I left the room shaking and my knees buckling. My wife's family had to carry me to the waiting room outside ICU and laid me down on the couch. As soon as I shut my eyes, I woke up a few hours later. I was surprised I was out that quick, by just a mere blink.
Anyway, I am seemly to be doing ok with my new job, it's a gas station again of course, 3rd shift. Just cleaning throughout the night in preparation for the morning rush. Basically it's doing all the dirty work to have a clean store for the 1st and 2nd shift people to mess up for me to clean again when I come in. Heh heh! The pay isn't all that great, just hope it's enough to keep me afloat until I find me a better paying job. I've been out of work for almost a month before I got this job. So I got some bills that needs catching up to do. *sighs* At least one good thing about my job is that it's only 3 blocks away, so with good weather I can just walk there. Saves gas that way. LOL
Anyway, that's pretty much up to date now, the post I made above was in a bit of a rush cuz I had to be at work within 15 mins after I posted it.
Keep the good thoughts and prayers coming for my wife. She's gonna need loads of it for the next coming months.
Yiz -
free2think
You will both be in my thoughts
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Yizuman
thanks free2think
Yiz -
noni1974
I'm sending happy thoughts your way.