Can't believe we are here again

After the seizure on 29th things calmed down. Gess was not admitted to the hospital, so we went home. The first couple of days were hard because we were both so anxious. But, we got through them and to my astonishment, Gess decided to stay in bed, get a lot of rest, and not rush back to work. He had some issues with depression and anxiety, but that will be for another blog entry. He started to feel better. We went to clinic and the doctors didn't have much to say. They told him to stop the IV antibiotics because he suspected that one of the drugs may have contributed to the seizure. His blood pressure was high, but the doctor thought that was caused by the remaining edema, so he prescribed a diuretic. He continued to rest, started to feel better and was anxious to go back to work. He still took it easy, going in for an hour or so on Friday.

Yesterday we went to a diabetes appointment in the morning. His blood pressure was down and he was generally feeling good. He went to work with no problems. When he got home we had dinner and watched some TV. Everything was fine and he was feeling fine. Until 10:00 pm. Suddenly one side of his body went numb and then there was pain in the back of his neck. Then he started coughing up blood. About a cup, bright red.

We knew that meant we needed to go to the hospital so we went upstairs and he started to feel worse. He reported a very sharp pain in his right lung, causing him to tense up and double over. He said call "911." So for the second time in his life....but also the second time in a couple of weeks...I dialed those numbers and within minutes the room was filled with firefighters. They checked him out and Gess started to feel someone better. The numbness was gone, but the whole thing was so strange, the firefighters urged him to go to the ER, and he agreed. Thankfully I was able to transport him and we didn't have to wait for an ambulance. The container with blood in it and his shortness of breath got him right into triage and allowed us to bypass the waiting room. The ER rooms were full, so we got a bed in the hallway. Tests, blood draws, xrays. Pain "spasms" continued and the doctors wanted to admit. It was after 4:00 am by this time, so I went home to try to get some sleep.

They admitted him to the ICU because of the weird chest pain and the bleeding. I slept, but not much and not well.

Today has been uneventful so far. He has slept on and off. No more numbness, but the pain keeps coming back. It is not predictable in nature at all. The episodes may be 2 minutes apart or 2 hours apart.

One of the doctors has a theory about what is causing this and it has to do with the chest wall affixing itself to the lining of the lung (or something of that nature). They are going to do a CT Scan to test the theory. That will be tomorrow. For now they are getting ready to move him out of ICU and down to the medicine floor. I am glad that he is not "sick enough" to need the ICU, but will miss the great nurses here. It makes his life much easier when his nurse responses to calls quickly and comes in to check on him regularly. Life on the floor is not as good.

The plan for now is to hold him at least 24 more hours and see how he progresses and what the CT shows (if anything).

We are both frustrated with the events. He is freaked out about work and I am freaked out that I am unemployed and not able to provide so that he can just stop working if he wants to. Of course, he doesn't want to quit working. He likes to work. He was talking about short-term disability through work, but the coverage is only 60% pay so he said he wouldn't do it. If I were working, it might be different, so I feel guilty. I need to find a job. But, if I do find a job, I won't be able to do this hospital every other week thing either. So, really it is a scary position that we are in.

Honestly he doesn't seem sick enough to need to be on disability. But, at the same time, he keeps having these strange things happen that land him in the hospital. They all seem unrelated. His lung functions aren't affected. They have basically been the same for the past 5 years. This doesn't seem to be infection related. He feels fine and just finished a course of abx. So, it is actually a very frustrating course of events. He will literally go from feeling good to being in the ICU in a matter of hours. There isn't a progression. It isn't predictable. It is nothing and then panic emergency. And then back to nothing again. It is exhausting.