February 2004

Still Here

I remember / Doing the Time Warp ... (Kick, kick.)

Three days ago I was told Kelli would be out of the ICU in one or two days. Yesterday I found out that not only will Kelli be in the ICU for another week at least, but she has an infection besides the pneumonia. That's bad enough, but the doctors knew about this a week ago. I found out yesterday. Isn't it great how the Doctors here keep everyone out of the loop? Even the RNs here didn't know.

I am very disappointed.

More news from the ICU

I'm married to a beach ball.

Kelli had been doing a little better each day. Every day they let her breath a little more on her own, cut back on her sedatives, and let her be a little more active. That backfired last night, and at this point she's almost as sedated as she was on Saturday. Her respirator is pumping air in at a pressure that is quite uncomfortable, so letting her stay awake is not a good idea.

She's also pumped full of fluids, to the point that she's VERY puffy. It's hard to recognize her, even. They say she will make a full recovery, that the fluids need to be there to help her body fight the infection, but it feels as if there is a hole in my chest where my heart should be, and all of my organs are trying to fill the gap.

I want my wife. I need her to get well. I need her to come home. But I know that's not going to happen yet, and I just need to deal with it.

I just thank God that there are people I can go to for support. I'm not alone, and that allows me to keep going.

Plotline Climax?

The medical fiasco continues.

A waiting room couch was my bed last night. It just might be my bed tonight as well. (At the time I'm writing this, at least. I most likely won't be able to upload this entry until Monday evening.) That all depends on whether or not the other people in the waiting room go home. Kelli is currently in the ICU of the most beautiful hospital I've ever seen, and I've been living in one of their countless waiting rooms.

Looks aside, they've finally figured out that Kelli has pneumonia again. Her constant fatigue was because she wasn't getting enough oxygen. All the other problems may or may not have been related, but they packed a combined whollup.

Long story short - Kelli's on a breathing machine for most likely the next two days, but she's making good progress. She's getting the antibiotics she needs and is spending most of her time pleasantly sedated. As usual my sleep patterns are all screwed up by the stress of this, but we'll both survive. We always do.

2 Hour Delay

This entry brought to you by the weather - recommend it to your friends!

This is what should have happened on tuesday, rather than canceling school entirely. Yeah, the roads are icy, but once it warms up to above 32 degrees it's just rain again.

I'm slowly making headway in my graduate class work, and might actually finish by the time everything's due. I like statistics, but this class is for someone who LOVES statistics. I don't ever want to see another Z-score as long as I live.

Kelli's still home, which is good, but she still has shortness of breath, which is bad. The Doctors adjusted her medication to hopefully fix the high blood pressure situation, but I'm not sure if that did the trick.

Another Sick Day

Guess where I am.

I'm writing this in the lobby of North Arundel Hospital, running on 2 1/2 hours sleep, a small bag of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, and a cup of hot water that’s supposed to be "strong" coffee. I'm also writing this on my Palm, which has an infuriating lack of spellchecking functions. Nevertheless, it's probably the act of writing that's keeping me awake & alert at the moment.

Kelli was in here Friday & Saturday last week, and now she's back again. This time, it's hypertension.

Apparently this hospital got to see several serious cases overnight (heart attacks, strokes, etc.), filling every bed in the ER. Hypertension's a big problem if the blood pressure's high enough, but a stroke still trumps it. They took Kelli back maybe 15 minutes ago, but wouldn't let me join her. My guess is they don't even have a spare seat to accommodate me.

Over the past 9 weekdays I've taught a total of 3. Weather and Kelli's health seem to be conspiring against me to keep me out of the classroom.

-=-=-=-

Ok, they kept us there forever but we're finally home. Both of us. Kelli's falling asleep next to me and I'm thinking that wouldn't be a bad idea, but I've got graduate work to do. What a long strange trip it's been.

Rain Day

What, another day off?

Of the past 7 weekdays, I've taught 2 of them. Today we got off for rain. Why rain? Because in the morning the temperature was below 32 degrees, thus causing sheets of ice to form on things. Yeah, that was fun.

Looks like I'll be teaching tomorrow, though. I'm glad, because we need to get this lesson finished before I have to hand out grades. ^_^::