I haven’t left my room in ICU since waking up here on Saturday; as a result, unless there’s a staff person walking through, I don’t get to talk to anyone. And this afternoon, anyone who isn’t vitally necessary has been at a Niners’ Watch Party, so it’s been very very quiet. I’m sitting in a comfyish chair just to the left of my bed, and I see the headrest out of the corner of my eye, and I keep interpreting it as a person watching what I’m writing (hmmm, maybe the DM is continuing to have an effect!). I haven’t asked it any questions yet, though I have considered it!
The morning was a different situation; I was visited by the phlebotomist before breakfast, then there was breakfast, a new first-shift nurse, a call with my brother Cliff, a pulmonary visit including giving me a smaller nasal canula (Face ID works again!) and less oxygen enhancement and a treatment with Pulmicort (inhaled steroid), and a visit from the Case Management Team to discuss any support I might need when discharged.
And then things got even busier with an echocardiogram (ultrasound), followed quickly by the cardiologist and my new nurse telling me that they plan to get me off inhaled oxygen and Diltiazem over the next 24 hours and start giving me Diltiazem (aka Cardizem) and Elequis (blood thinner) orally today because my heart and respiration rates are going down (good!) even though I’m still in A-Fib (bad and unsurprising). I can be discharged if I’m still in A-Fib, but not if I’m on oxygen or inhaled medicine. I won’t be going home before Tuesday, but I’m definitely moving in the right direction.
Which was good news to give Diane when she came over for a short visit to break up her lonely recovery at home! And then she was off to make lunch before the HVAC people arrived, while I had lunch on a tray table looking at the computer…at least I wasn’t on a conference call at the same time!
After lunch, my nurse began the titration process and gave me the first of the oral Caridizem and Elequis; I spent a few hours reading your wonderful notes on Facebook and on the blog and cleaning up email and even doing a little light coding to ease the annoyances of daily computer use. Undistracted time is a blessing, as long as there isn’t too much.
I also learned that I’m going to be moving from ICU to a regular room this evening (probably after I’m in bed). I will probably have a roommate, which will encourage me to want to get out quicker!
Cantor Felder-Levy tried to talk to me during all that and we finally made contact around 1:30pm – she’s afraid she’s coming down with something so she did her hospital visits by phone today. She and Diane talked a bit later, too.
There was other excitement at home when the HVAC people arrived; as I understand it, they sent three people to handle the problem, two outside and one looking at the inside air handler in the attic. And the problem was a little loose wiring in the attic, which he tightened. Then he reset the system and all was well – elapsed time maybe ten minutes. I don’t know if they got the fall checkup into that ten minutes – but I do need to get that done. :-)
The staff was setting up a watch party room for the Niners game tonight and I heard them talking about snacks and goodies. I’m on the heart-healthy-boring diet, but I asked my nurse if he could get me something anyway. He couldn’t, but he told me the not-so-secret number for dietary services (*3FOOD), said I should call them when I was ready for something good, and they’d tell me my approved choices. The brownie I ordered was by far the best thing I’ve eaten here. It was, of course, the only thing I’ve had with chocolate!
And they started me on yet another new medicine, Metroprelol, to keep my heartbeat down as they take me off the inhaled medicines. It’s as though they want me to go home or something!
I need to pack up my personal belongings before I go to bed (that mostly means the computer, phone, and charging kit); they’ll wheel me to the new room while I sleep away the journey (hah!). Let the adventure begin!