luvteaching

Good morning everyone! Happy Easter to all who celebrate. @ger_77 Happy Anniversary! I can't seem to remember if our anniversary has fallen on Easter Sunday before. Do you? I know we got married on Easter weekend but I just am not recalling that it's fallen on this day as well. Thank you to everyone for all the good wishes. It's a fairly quiet morning and wind and rain are in the forecast. I'm going to make some chocolate chip cookies for the nurses and staff at the hospital and take them today. DH has requested a chocolate shake and I'll get my "free" birthday treat at Starbucks. The day will be spent at the hospital. I have a good friend who will make my birthday cake - German Sweet Chocolate - and another friend had flowers delivered yesterday. After the last two weeks just getting to spend the day with DH is the highpoint on my list. If the local Boomers Drive-In is open today I'm going to treat myself to a Chicken Swiss Bacon burger with mushrooms tonight. It's soooo good and a definite indulgence! Have a good day everyone and thank you so much for all your kind wishes! Karen

Good morning everyone and Good Friday wishes to all who celebrate, DH started to add a few grey hairs to my head on Wednesday. I got there at noon and he was tired but the nurse said he was alert and talking in the morning. Anyway, as the day went on he was harder and harder to rouse and then his heart rate started slowing. I'm getting a bit panicky, the doctor is paged, an EKG is ordered, and then the doctor comes in to say he thinks he's solved the problem. It's a medication issue and DH just needs to sleep it off. They assured me he'd be fine, I could go home, etc. Yesterday I get to the hospital, head to his room, and he's not there! You can guess where my brain starts going but I calmly go to the nurses' station and ask to find out he's been moved (demoted) to the Medical Care Unit but nobody had called me. I get to his new room and he's sitting up and chatting away with me. He eats his lunch (Pureed and thickened for beverages) by himself, sits up for PT for 5 minutes pretty much unassisted, and is asking questions. I think he's back! Next step is hopefully a move back to our local hospital in what is termed a "Swing bed" where he'll do PT, OT, Speech, and have his medication monitored. Our local hospital means no freeway driving for me and is about 10 miles closer as well as in the same county so a win-win situation. Happy Easter weekend to everyone! Karen

Hi, DH wears a nice shirt, tie and sweater vest for "gala" nights and fits right in. The attire runs the gamut so as long as DH is happy it's fine. Karen

Good morning from a cloudy Pacific Northwest, The last few days have been busy and I haven't had much time to even be at the computer. DH is making some good progress. Sunday afternoon the nurse and CNA got him cleaned up, in a sling, and transferred to a reclining chair to watch the Mariners game. I went to take his picture, told him to "smile" and he gave a big grin which the nurse just loved. He stayed in the chair for 2 hours and then, when asked, pointed to the bed and back he went. Yesterday I got there about 1:00, after water aerobics, and he was sitting up in bed, no feeding tube, and pureed food in front of him! He'd pulled the tube out in the morning, speech had evaluated him and decided he could do pureed and I got there just as lunch was being served so I got to feed him. He kept wanting to feed himself and ate about 3/4 of the main meal and all of the pears. Today is a heart test. His last one showed his heart wasn't squeezing quite enough but that could be totally do to the sepsis so today is to find out if that's still the case or the problem has resolved itself. Depending on that test he may be able to transfer to our smaller local hospital for the next couple of weeks to have the IV administered, etc. We don't have Medicare days at the moment to fund skilled nursing so this will help. Have a wonderful day everyone! Karen

Good morning, It's a grey overcast day here in the Pacific Northwest but no snow so that's good. I attended a baby shower last night after being at the hospital for the day. I got there for part of it and most of it was the gift opening. The new-to-be parents got lots of books and I added to the stash! I got sent home with a chicken salad sandwich on a croissant so that was dinner - nice and easy. DH has a new device in his room. It's called a tele sitter and watches him to be sure he doesn't try and get out of bed or take out the feeding tube. If his hands go near his nose a voice is heard "... put your hands down" and he does! It is monitored 24/7 and will alert the nurse if he falls or anything major happens. Technology! Yesterday PT came in and got him sitting up so another small step. Today or tomorrow they are hoping to put him in the sling and transfer him to the reclining chair. Bloodwork is continuing to move in the right direction. Next is to get him talking. Not a fan of peanut butter and jelly, do like cod, and love children's books! This morning, before heading out to the hospital, I want to get the Easter cards done for Canada relatives, even though they'll be late, and then work on the US ones. Have a good Sunday! Karen

rabbit, Rabbit, White Rabbit, Good morning everyone, It's a cloudy day here but no rain at the moment. April is a busy month. Easter Sunday is our 46th wedding anniversary (same as @ger_77) and my 70th birthday. Why do I know we'll be celebrating in a hospital room? DH continues to slowly improve. Yesterday they got the feeding tube in and the MRI taken care of. The MRI showed nothing new and didn't show what the infectious disease doctor was looking for so that's good news. We still don't know why he keeps getting these UTI's and the different bacteria though. Yesterday he was alert, waving at people, clenched my hand, gave me the ok sign, and was vocalizing a lot but not many actual words. He was also quite restless in the bed and trying to get his legs over the edge so I'm going to ask about PT today. He's not ready for much at all but he could be ready to sit on the edge of the bed with assistance. Any little thing is good! I have a baby shower to stop by to this evening and the hospital today so I'll get busy this morning. Karen

Good morning, It's an overcast day with wind and rain in the forecast in my neck of the woods. DH had a fairly good day yesterday. He was more alert and tracking when people came in and out. He was waving as they left, clenched my hand, and gave me the "ok" sign. He tried to talk but only got the "f" sound out of his first name but it's progress. Last night his glucose spiked so I'll find out about that today. No MRI or feeding tube yet but he does have a PIK line in now for the antibiotic and for nutrition. I'm off to do the banking and a few errands then heading to the hospital. Karen

Good morning from another lovely sunny day in the Pacific Northwest, I will gladly salute doctors today - our family one is a gem and the team taking care of DH are wonderful. Our doctor retired last fall (at age 75) but came back doing only video visits twice a week. He says being around the younger staff keeps him young and it gives his wife a break! DH is slowly improving. I had a call this morning to give permission to put in a Pic line for nutrition as they couldn't put in the feeding tube or do the MRI yesterday due to a persistent cough and overloaded on fluids. Once they gave him Lasix he peed out over a liter of fluid and the cough calmed down! Today his nurse says he's more alert and looking better. They also did an echocardiogram yesterday and it came back clear. Off to see him in about 30 minutes or so. Have a good day everyone. I am in control - at least of juggling all the balls in the air to keep this guy going! Karen

Good morning from a sunny Pacific Northwest! DH got out of the ICU yesterday and moved up a floor to the Intermediate Care Unit. He has a nice room with a view including being able to see Bellingham Bay which sparkled in the sun yesterday. His eyes were open most of the day and he was tracking but no talking or other responses. I okayed a feeding tube (temporary at this point) and an MRI to check his prostate. He was seen by the infectious disease doctor who is a British lady, very well though of by the staff, and I was quite impressed with her. He will be on an antibiotic for three weeks via IV, the bacteria is a nasty one called pseudomonas and is in his lungs, blood and urine. If he rallies some more and doesn't need this unit he may be moved back to our local hospital which is about 10 minutes closer and an easier drive for me and closer to family. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the prayers and caring thoughts! Karen

Good morning, It's 32F at the moment with the sun out and a high of 60F predicted. I can handle that! Good news on the DH front. Yesterday he had his eyes open and he grasped my hand and squeezed it! His central line is out as is the Foley catheter. He's off of a lot of the medications. The bacteria has been isolated and he'll be back on an antibiotic for 10-14 days. We got words out of him!!! Mind you it was "owie, owie, owie" as they were putting in an IV but they were words. The doctor has changed from "doom and gloom" to a more optimistic outlook. DH may be moved out of the ICU today to a step-down unit. That will be for a couple of days and then to a regular bed. At that point he may be able to transfer back to our local hospital (which is smaller and not equipped for the bigger emergencies as he experienced) which is closer to us which would be nice. He may also be able to do the acute rehab program at the hospital. We'll just have to wait and see. We have some cruises booked and final payment is due on the first one - Westerdam, Alaska, July 1st. I'm considering canceling partly due to his health and I'm not thrilled with a few things such as the cabin (it's cramped as we've had it before.). Decision time in the next couple of days. Off to get cleaned up, have a neighbor for tea and then head to the hospital. Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers! They are working! Karen

Good evening, DH update: Not a lot of news but he's still with us so that's good. I got there today and the heating blanket was gone as he's maintaining his body temperature. Also no meds needed to keep his blood pressure where it should be. The Foley catheter was removed this afternoon as well. He doesn't have MRSA, the flu, Covid, RSV or Legions. The test results that were high are starting to trend down and the ones that were low are starting to trend up. The doctor today said that they'll move him out of the ICU when he starts coughing a bit more productively, says I am being realistic and is very cautiously saying that there is some optimism. It's going to be a long haul regardless. I slept last night and spent today in his room doing my needlework, playing my iPad games, checking Cruise Critic, and texting a few people to keep them in the loop. The next few days are going to be critical as we see if he rallies from this infection (which we don't know what it is yet) and the pneumonia. Thank you so much to all of you! I loved the Charlie Brown meme from @aliaschief today. It was perfect! Now I'm going to indulge in a glass of wine, maybe a small dish of ice cream, and call it a night. If I don't get any calls during the night I'll go to the pool tomorrow and do water aerobics before heading to the hospital. They are in opposite directions but that's fine. Karen

Good morning everyone, Thank you so much to everyone for all the thoughts and prayers heading our way. I feel the love and support and thank you so much! The good news is that I didn't get any calls from the hospital last night. I get email updates on all tests and there are still problems on blood work, renal, etc. but the numbers seem to be trending in the right direction - slowly. I got some sleep last night (the wine may have helped) and did some reading. Now having got the morning started I'm ready to head out to Bellingham to be with the DH. I'll update later tonight (PST) when I get back - hopefully with some encouraging news. Karen

Good evening everyone, I'll update more tomorrow when I'm awake but DH is now in the ICU at the Bellingham hospital. It's bigger than our local one. He having problems maintaining his core temp and his blood pressure. The latter has settled down with the use of meds so that's a plus. He's slightly better but he's a pretty sick guy. I got home about 30 minutes ago after a very tiring day. So, in true dailyite fashion, I'm having a glass of wine as I write this (Riesling but not the one today), have updated family, and I'm heading to bed! I'm exhausted. Fingers, toes crossed that he makes it through this. Karen

Good morning everyone, I also woke up to a skiff of snow and we had snow/sleet/hail/rain yesterday as well. Isn't this supposed to be Spring? I've been reading every day but just not having time to post. Doing the caregiving for DH is becoming more of a challenge. He did great coming home last week. Then Friday he had a "down" day which I expected as he was so busy the day before. The visiting nurse came to do wound care for his heel and felt he was showing stroke symptoms so we called 911. I knew he was just tired and that was the consensus of the medics as well. The weekend was fine with one slip off the wheelchair. Our local guys came, got him back up and had a nice visit with him commenting that they hadn't heard DH talk so much and be so engaging. Thursday I ended up with them here both morning and evening for falls. Morning they got him in the wheelchair and all was fine. Evening they got him in the wheelchair, I got his evening meds in him, and they helped get him into bed for me as well as the assistant fire chief cleaned out a downspout because he saw the gutters were overflowing. "Clean the gutters" is on DS's "to-do" list for me. The doctor says DH is fighting the UTI bacteria so we're doing an antibiotic and then a maintenance one and now the nurse and I think he's dehydrated. Anyway, the ER may be in the cards today. I just want this guy healthy and able to cruise again as that's something he totally loves - as do I. Thanks for listening/reading! Karen

Checking in! Karen

Checking in from a sunny beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest!

Usually the tram is an "on your own" experience and the bus to the glacier would be at a designated time. On our Eurodam cruise in July the glacier is just after our arrival and the tram is listed as "on-your-own." You can also go multiple times if you want to. I've ridden up and explored in daylight then gone back up closer to closing for the night lights. Karen

Good morning!, The sun is out and it's a pretty morning here. DH is progressing. He transferred yesterday and stood for over a minute. Discharge date is tomorrow at 1:00 PM. I have a local service called Care-E-Me coming to transport him home as he needs to be in the wheelchair. It will be $95.00 but I'm not paying for skilled nursing! The social worker yesterday got it arranged as well as the referral to home health but I'll follow up this morning. It will be nice to have him home. Have a wonderful Wednesday! Karen

Good morning! @JazzyV Thanks for having DH on both lists! It's very kind of you. DH update - looks like we've dodged the "skilled nursing" bullet. PT finally came in yesterday afternoon and had him transfer from bed to wheelchair, wheelchair to mat table, and then stand at the bed. He did those tasks fairly well so the consensus is he can come home in a few days rather than skilled nursing! Yay! He wanted to come home by 5:00 PM yesterday and he wasn't happy with my explanation. Today I take in his wheelchair so he can practice transferring with that. We're going to meet with the palliative care doctor for an informational meeting about what that entails. DH has a sign outside his door now "Do not leave any food or drink in the room". He's setting off alarms if he sees a pudding cup or applesauce somewhere on the computer stand (they use them for giving him some meds still) and he wants it! I just laughed when I saw that. DH is being much more verbal and starting to advocate for himself which I'm loving. This is better than he's been in a few months. He's also off IV antibiotics and on oral meds. As for me - I did water aerobics yesterday and spent time with him. Today I'll make sugar cookies to take to the staff and head out by 11:00. Thanks for all the good thoughts and for reading my epistles! Karen

Good evening, It's been a good day with several things getting done which is good. DH is continuing to do well. Before I got there today he told the hospitalist he was ready to go home and he wanted out now! I got warned by the nurses so I talked to him about him needing to get off the IV antibiotics and to be cleared by PT and speech. Later the hospitalist came in and I let him know that DH and I had "Chatted". The hospitalist told me he told DH "We'll see what your wife says". This afternoon we got DH out of bed and he transferred to the wheelchair with assistance. We went for a walk down the halls to admire the new artwork. When we came back he wanted to sit in the arm chair. The CNA's tried to help him but they got an "I can do it myself!" and he did (with them closely monitoring. I left as he was eating - still pureed but tomorrow Speech should re-evaluate as should PT. Keeping fingers crossed he'll be able to come home in a few days and not have to go to skilled nursing! Have a nice evening everyone!! Karen

Good morning, It's "Here we go again" time for this household. DH is back in the hospital with a UTI. Same bacteria as the one at the end of January. Currently he's starting to come around but his voice hasn't returned. We may be going back to the skilled nursing facility which is ok. However, we're out of Medicare days so a month's stay is about what our three Alaska cruises will cost us for this summer. Oh well. You can't take it with you, right? Middle name is Lynne and no reason why. DH's is his mother's maiden name. Our son's is the name his birth mother gave him. Update: I got to the hospital today and DH was up in a chair chatting away with the nurses. He is definitely back. H even transferred from chair to bed but with help so that's a plus. I'll find out more on Monday and am now hoping to avoid the skilled nursing facility and the cost! Have a good evening, put your clocks ahead and sleep well. Karen

Yes to lost sound as well.

Good afternoon, We're watching the ships sailing away from Port Everglades and Dh is watching Secrets of the Zoo. He has been home 48 hours now and is doing well. He is transferring fairly easily from chair to wheelchair, etc., is much more talkative and engaged in what is going on, and definitely has an appetite - especially for cookies! DH's middle name is his mother's maiden name. I'm not named after anyone but a lot of my age range were named Elizabeth as it was when the Queen came to the throne. Fortunately my mom didn't follow that pattern. DS is not named after anyone but his middle name is his birth name given by his birth mother. We adopted him when he was 2 1/2 years old. We weren't interested at all in using family names - think Hilda, Reginald, Delvina, Percy, Thelma and Harry. Not going to happen! Karen

Checking in as well.

Checking in. First time since Mid-January since DH was hospitalized and in rehab. He came home yesterday and is watching with us (as Dr. Pol is on the tv). Karen