Heart Hospital Wednesday Morning

Dad was asleep when I arrived.  He seemed comfortable.  His room does not have a bathroom and they had a portable one in the room.  He woke up shortly thereafter and asked for his hearing aid.  There was no battery in it and, after a quick search of the floor, we were back in business.

Dad is in good spirits.  I think the antibiotics are keeping the infection at bay.  I could hear the case worker speaking at the nurses' desk and she came in and got a little history.  It appears we should not have been so up front with them about the purpose of our stay being to get Dad into skilled nursing.  We weren't told any of this before we made this decision.  They have their own procedures and tests they want to do on Dad.  We did not think that would happen.  Most of the tests are just the usual blood, x-ray, and ct variety.

Anyway, the case worker came in and told me that Dad would be on antibiotics for 6-8 weeks and asked about his home health care.  She then told me that Dad would need skilled nursing and said we had a choice of where to take Dad.  I mentioned we had made arrangements for Rosewood and signed a paper to that effect.  The case worker then called over to Rosewood.  This is how it works, I guess.

Dr. Amin came in and said he was changing the antibiotic order.  He wanted to add Zyvoxx(?).  When I told him we were working with Dr. Hedari, he said he was changing the order because he wanted to confer with Dr. Kitt over at Memorial, but she was out of town.  I explained we had been seeing Hedari for a couple of weeks and if he could confer with him before adding the Zyvoxx I would appreciate.  He said he would.

Dad ate all his breakfast.  He was in good spirits.  I think having a goal and working toward it keeps him somewhat occupied.  That and feeling a little better.  It is a bit difficult seeing him so weak.  One of the side effects of the Zosyn is muscle weakness.  I'm hoping the transition to Rosewood will be smooth and once there he can get some physical therapy.  He was also due for an EPO shot today.  Nurse Matt was going to call over to Dr. Ngyun to get the dosage.

July 13th First Chemo

I believe this was Dad's firts chemo treatment.

July 11th

Just left Dad.  He had a chest xray early in the morning.  No doctor showed up between 7:30 and 9:30.  His vitals, particularly his O2 levels, were better than yesterday morning (91% yesterday vs 95% today).  We walked around the floor and he had a nice pace going.  When we got back, breakfast was waiting – scrambled eggs and sausage.  He ate most of it.

Tom’s plan for today is to walk over to Dr. Nichols office and see if he can get a consult with Trevor the PA (one sharp man).  Tom feels we need someone to help coordinate all the various hospital doctors.  If nothing else we hope he can give us a holistic assessment of Dad’s condition.  After that Tom will walk over to Dr. Rose and see what the progress is on Dad’s ear.  Dad said it didn’t hurt this morning.

In assessing his demeanor, I believe he knows the fluid came back to his lungs too quickly and that has him a bit depressed.  He also knows his ear needs to be fixed and he wants to have more energy.  He is hoping the doctors are doing something about those things, but I got the feeling he’s losing a bit of confidence in their ability to improve his situation.  Dad’s emotions do fluctuate through the day (as I’m sure all of ours would).  We had a nice visit and he was conversational.  He has an amazing ability to be of good cheer….

July 9th

Dad is in his room resting comfortably.  When Tom called, Dad was in the background making snoring noises.  Right now, Tom says they want to set up an IV and, are you sitting down?, draw some more blood.  Tom told them to take a little extra and Dad gave Tom the single-finger salute. They have a good nurse named Lyza on duty, and the shift nurse is right across the hall from Dad’s room. So should he have any complaints, he can walk across the hall.  BTW, he is in room 485. 

Just got this from Tom:  Dr. Aziz the lung doctor is going to extract the fluid in Dad’s lungs tomorrow morning, once that is done, they will do a CT of his lungs to see what, if anything is going on in there.  For the rest of the night they are just going to monitor his breathing.

Cate, I think we should let Aunt Lillian and Aunt Marge know that Dad is back in the hospital.  I don’t have their emails, but if you want me to handle it, I can if you forward me their addresses.

It sounds like everyone is one there way or close to it.  If you want to call Dad’s room the hospital number is 661-324-4647 and ask for room 485

May 18th

I don’t know if they call this “managed” healthcare or not, but I sure don’t. So here is where we are at at 10:40 am Friday. Since my last update, Dr Kitt, an infectious disease specialist came in sometime during the middle of the night. They did start Dad on Vancomycin about 3:00 am and he was done with this IV by about 8:45 when I came in. Dr Rose arrived at the same time and we did talk for awhile. She said they were getting ready Dad for a MRI and that she wanted him to also have a special scan. I asked why the MRI and she said one of the other doctors ordered it along with blood and urine samples. Since they took both in the middle of the night I let those go. That is all they have done so far. Dad’s pain level is currently an 8 out of 10, with 10 being unbearable. This is higher than at anytime yesterday, but not as bad as Wednesday. I just talked with his nurse and they are getting him pain medication. He is getting tylenol with codeine. Dad was just started on two different anti-biotics shortly, they are Cefepime, an injection given through his IV very slowly and Zyvox 600 mg, a pill. These were suggested by the contagious disease specialist. I did ask Dr Rose if they were concerned about Mersa and she said no. Her main concern is whether he has an ear infection that is affecting he mastoid or whether he has a mastoid infection that is affecting his ears. She said treatment would be different depending on what they find. Dr Trang is expected in around 4:00 today. He is an ENT that specializes more in ear problems and is also an ear surgeon. Dr Rose has been consulting with him on Dad’s case. John, I did tell them about Dr Saike and the Aransp injections that he is getting. They said they will inform his doctor and that it is up to the doctor to contact Dr Saike. His red blood count was at 2.85, if that means anything to you and that his calcium is low too. His blood pressure is high, around 160/80. Things move slowly in the hospital, but I do believe we are moving forward. Dad is resting right now. I will let you know if anything else changes. Bill

According to John, Dad received an EPO (Procrit) shot today.

This was not Procrit, but something similar call Aransz and I think the dose was 60 mcg. - John

According to Dr Rose's patient notes:

Dad will have a CT scan today, verbal reporton CT - right and left mastoid opacification, left ME largely opacified, left can filled with tissue, not bony erosion.

May 17th

Dad was admitted about 8:00pm, but so far (10:00 pm) we are still waiting for them to do anything. I talked with the nurse who has put in I'V, but nothing is hooked to it. She is waiting for the dr who should be in about 10:30pm. I asked the RN what anti-biotic dad will be on and she did not know. She also did not have any idea how long he will be here. The only thing she was able to confirm is that dad will have a scan in the morning. Dad is at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, room 586, which is a single bed room. To contact him, call 661-327-4647 then extension 1586. If you want to just call and get information on how he is doing you will need the code word "rabbit". Dad pain level started out as a 1 this morning and went up to a 4 around noon and a 6 around 5:00, before he ate soup for dinner. So eating doesn't seem to be making it worse. He is resting right now as we wait for the dr. He is also leary of taking more pain medicine because he has had the runs this afternoon and evening. Well that is about all we know right now, he is in good spirits and we were doing quizzes I have on my phone. He did very well on the Chicago quiz! Love to all, Bill

This is all the info I have right now.  Dad had his CT scan at noon today.  His ear doctor was going to take tomorrow off and so she rushed to get the results.  From what I can discern, Dad’s ear infection is deeper than we thought and they want to immediately admit him into the hospital for IV antibiotics.  I understand a new doctor will be brought in to assist Dr. Rose and oversee the treatment.  Dad and Bill were here in the store when we got the news.  While Dad was disappointed and sad to get the news, he recovered quickly and said let’s get this done.  Bill took Dad home to get some personal items and perhaps take a nap before going to the hospital.  I believe he will be at Memorial and we’ll keep you up-to-date on any more information we get.

According to Dr Rose's patient notes canal is very edematous, cannot see eardrum, there is scant yellow discharge.  Wants Dad on IV antibiotics.