Day by Day

So today wasn't a bad day but it wasn't the day we anticipated either. Daddy Hammer remains stable on the vent but he was coughing so bad we could not do a breathing test and hence he is still on said vent. That was a disappointment. He went without a fever all day and all night Wednesday but Thursday am spiked a temp again of 101. Dr Z was puzzled by it because none of his labs have come back positive for bacteria growth. So we changed antibiotic, again. Then he toyed with putting in a chest tube to drain out some fluid he saw on the chest xray. In the end he decided to take the conservative route and just pulled out a sample with a small needle. Thank goodness he did because he discovered there wasn't enough to toy with in the first place. So they did a CT scan just to make sure. The good news is that there still was very little fluid so we are just dealing with pneumonia, nasty pneumonia but only pneumonia as far as we know.

He had to be sedated pretty heavily most of the day because he kept coughing. Our thought was that maybe yesterday was too busy of a day and it wore him out. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. We are just hoping that the chest xray will be improved. This on again off again fever is the concerning and frustrating part. I'm on night duty and so far there has been a guy who has coded 5 times already and the freaky part is that his/her room is right near my dad's. So every time the code comes over the loud speaker I literally stop breathing until I hear the whole room number. I guess the good news is that the staff are really good here if they can keep someone from coding five times in one day.

I just wish they let me sleep in his room instead of the waiting room. There is this family that literally brought everyone including the guy's great grandchildren and they are all staying here. But they live less than 40 minutes away. And they stay up till 2 am with the tv blaring while the rest of us are trying to sleep. It's funny the 'culture' that develops in these situations. How everyone stakes out their area and 'protects' it. Three of the families we have become close with, prayed with and ask daily about their loved one. But this other one has taken over most of the room and it's been interesting. I know they are just as concerned about their family member too so I can't fault them. Although after only three hours of sleep it's tempting...