What a day! First Hubby had me get up at 5:00 am because his arm hurt so much he could barely touch it. I thought that I really needed to take that last speck out, so I was preparing to put ice on it to numb it so I could get the rest of it out, but it was too painful for Hubby, so we decided that instead, since we were up so early anyway, we would get ready and go to a walk-in clinic before going to his cardiology appointment and have them numb it and finish taking it out. The clinic didn’t open until 8:00, but by the time I made coffee and got the horses fed, dawn had arrived. Fortunately Jeff is a pretty early riser, too, and once Hubby was dressed, Jeff and I had to get him out to the truck. He was weaker than ever today, so much so his legs were practically useless, and we had to get him into a folding chair and carry him out to the truck. He is getting so frustrated at his weakness, and the fact that so much of these problems seem to have begun at our last hospital stay. We arrived at the clinic just as they opened their doors, and proceeded to do exactly what I thought needed to be done, numbing and removing that little speck, than bandaging it before we left. From there we went straight to his cardiologist, arriving about 10 minutes late, but we had no trouble getting in, albeit in a wheelchair they provided. None of the staff seemed able to get a blood pressure reading, and Hubby started getting really short of breath. He’s been doing that a lot, usually after some little exertion, but now it was happening without hardly any exertion at all. After the doctor saw him, though, and checked out a few things, he firmly suggested we go straight over the Jupiter Medical Center and get him in to the ER. He called ahead to speed up the process, and in spite of Hubby’s aversion to hospitals at this point, he was more adverse to the pain and inability to breathe, so we headed straight over and got ourselves admitted. Lots of tests were taken, and while waiting for the results, his breathing got worse and worse. They put him on oxygen, first just through the nose, then with a mask, then with a machine that pushed air right into him, one step away from a full ventilator. That got him a bit more stable, but he was still having trouble. As the test results started to come in, it was decided he needed to be moved to the Intensive Care Unit, which happened about 4:00, give or take. Once up there he was surrounded by a bevy of doctors, nurses, and lots of others trying to make him comfortable. They put me in the waiting room, which lasted about 20 minutes before I insisted on looking in on him, and learned that he had almost crashed when they took him off the respirator to transport him. The whole time they were still trying to stabilize him, and were finally succeeding when I arrived. Whew! Close call! I stayed close for several hours after that, taking a short trip to the cafeteria for some soup and salad (the Snickers from the vending machine was all I’d had today), then just after I got back to ICU the cardiologist that sent us over here came by, and we discussed what some of the difficulties and options for care might be. I hadn’t planned on staying the night, but he said he thought I should, so after he left, I ran home to drop off hay (Jeff had already fed them for me), and left Lola for him to look after as well. I packed up some things, including a pillow and blanket for me, change of clothes and other sundries, computer, phone charger, the usual travel items, and returned to the hospital. With nurses coming and going, more tests being done, and lots of activity, I expect it’s going to be a long night! Here’s hoping things are better in the morning!
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