In the pink

 

This is what life looked like at my house the last time I was there…Friday.

Today I woke up feeling a lot better. I said “This is better Barbara day.”

 

My view today is a bit different looking

This was a minor inconvenience, but with necessary results 

This plastic vest has tubes for pressurized air all through it that vibrate which loosens up the stuff in my lungs to help me cough. My main discomfort was that I sweat. It definitely doesn’t breathe ha ha ha ha but first you’re going to sweat and eventually you get to breathe.  Bronchiectasis means chronic coughs and the goal is to cough the stuff out.

Sorry about this crazy formatting.

The other thing that finally happened was getting a medline- a longer IV line for me to keep getting antibiotics. The first 7 tries gave 3 that lasted for less than 24 hours…apparently my veins clot up and block further stuff from getting in.

They tried once with a muscle injection, and it was the worst pain I’ve ever had. 

 I am quite unhappy with how long it took to get this better, more permanent line in.  Three doctors and repeated nurse calls, and finally it’s done. I don’t know what ports are like but this is shorter than a PICC line is all I know.

I am waiting for my first dose of antibiotics since yesterday’s muscular hell around 9 am - which I don’t think is a good span without antibiotics…it’s 3:30 pm when writing this.

The good news is having great laughs with a female EKG ultrasound technician while she took pictures of my heart and with the phlebotomist who had his own ultrasound machine to put in the new IV. He is from Sarasota FL, and she is from near Boston MA. They both are traveling employees of HCA, which owns our hospital.

An answer to a question several people asked, how did I get this infection? I pumped the third Dr who’s visited me about staph pneumonia 

Airborne probably since it’s in my lungs probably from someone who was sick. Then he proceeded to try to be sure I didn’t become a hermit.  

It’s not likely! These are some things I learned from the pandemic - I will definitely wear masks around strangers more.

And wash my hands more often and try to keep fingers out of eyes and nose.

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He who, when called upon to speak a disagreeable truth, tells it boldly and has done, is both bolder and milder than he who nibbles in a low voice and never ceases nibbling. -

Johann Kaspar Lavater, poet, writer, philosopher (15 Nov 1741-1801)

You thought we were done with hospital photos

 But since I couldn't get blogger to download the photos while I was just using my iPad and blogger, and even paid for the super duper version...there are a few photos still to share.

My cave windows.

Room 326, which had the label of 226 on it for the first several days until I asked about it. It was just a mistake on the little dry-erase board.

Under Patient/Family questions, the whole time there was the word "epley" - and I never found out what it referred to. HEPA was the air filter that was recommended for me to have in my home. I never did meet Leah, nurse manager, but the nurse and charge nurse and CNAs were very helpful in many ways. They work 12 on and 12 off...and most commute from quite a distance. I met people from Durham NC, Spartanburg SC, Aiken SC, Charlotte NC etc. They are all contracted through an agency, and thus get paid better than people who work directly for HCA Mission hospital. I don't know how local nurses who are in a union are able to compete.

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I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. -James Baldwin, writer (1924-1987)