Saturday, October 10, 2020

As If It Wasn't Stressful Enough...

 The husband checked himself into the hospital overnight on Monday.  He's been having issues breathing for months and when the fatigue finally hit him hard  he went to have it checked out.  They kept him overnight.  He was bored out of his mind. He tried to escape. They talked him out of it. I did manage to run him a book, which I had to leave at the reception area, because no one is allowed visitors right now. Now, while I understand the COVID restrictions, they really need to take the *husband* factor into things....

Him: "They asked me what medications I was on.  I said none because I couldn't remember any of them."

Me: "But you're on four..." 

Him: "So they think it was caused by an underlying infection."

Me: "Did you tell them you had MRSA?" 

Him: "No."

Me: "But MRSA can lay dormant, and would need a specific antibiotic"

Him: "Well, too late now." 

Seriously, I'm not so sure not allowing wives in to recant medical history and pertinent information to the medical team is the best idea.  Anyhoo...

He arrived home on Tuesday night after a barrage of tests. They scrubbed his brain through his nose for COVID, twice, and turned up negative. When it was all said and done, the lining around his heart and lungs is inflamed.  It's called Pericarditis.   Apparently it's most likely caused by a viral infection that has irritated the lining, and will usually resolve itself with high doses of ibuprofen, except of course, when it doesn't. And of course, it hasn't, so if by Monday he's still not great we'll be heading back to the doctor for the next level of treatment. Hopefully this time I'll be allowed in to sidebar.

Youngest has agreed to try an additional medication to help level him off.  He's still working toward a starter dose on the depression medication, and this new med will help offset the manic parts so he can better manage all that he's dealing with.  He's taken these meds both before and done well with them. Except he was 10 and I was managing them for him.  At 18, he's not so great at it. His allergies have been killing him and he's been running a low grade fever, so he's been taking Zyrtec. On Thursday, he took the next level up on his base med and his Zyrtec at 3pm since he forgot in the morning.  He went to work at 6, and at 10pm when he came home, he took the new med and some sleep CBD.  And then he decided to take his brother's melatonin without looking at the bottle. Apparently his brother takes a fast dissolve 10mg tablet.  Youngest has never taken more than 3mg. Needless to say, he slept like a brick encased in concrete. Then, eight hours later, he took his morning dose of his base med (this part is fine) and accidentally took his new med again (this is NOT fine.)  He was nauseous and later sick... really sick.  Well, duh... (insert face palm here)

So after a serious meltdown about how I'm trying to poison him, he flat out refused to take them.

  *sigh* Ya'll I just can't right now...

Tonight we had a talk, we're cutting them in half, and he's agreed to try them for 2 weeks. Fingers crossed we can get him through the early side effects, because this is ridiculous. 

Oldest has been my saving grace lately.  Helping out around the house, generally showing concern, laying low until his COVID tests came back negative. And while he's had his share of needing Mom's help (like when I had to get out of bed at 6am to fix a payroll issue for him) he's managed to reconfigure the printer for me, take care of his own dinners, and help me with some basics around the house. Don't worry though, he'll still occasionally call me in a tizzy about fixing a spelling error done with washable marker on a shirt he needs for a party... in 30 minutes. You know, just so I don't think I'm all done raising him yet. 

Meanwhile, the husband is home from work.  When I asked him what he had planned to do this weekend while I was at work, he mentioned helping his brother in law stack wood. Like, 27 cords of wood, for the winter.

I asked him if he had the ER doctor on speed dial. 

After a stern look, and an implied divorce if he even thought about it, he reconsidered.

Vacation can not come soon enough...

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like you need one of those pieces of paper that allows you to talk with doctors about your husband's medical condition(s)?

    I hope he will get better soon and you won't have to worry about him so much since you apparently have more than enough to worry about with your kid(s).
    ((hugs))) I think you need 'em.

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    Replies
    1. Nope. We have that. The issue was that no one else is allowed with the patient at the hospital because of covid restrictions. The two hospitals we use aren't the same network and don't "talk" to each other, so anything done or treated by his primary care has to be self reported, which, as you can imagine, he is NOT good at. He was a tiny bit better yesterday. Fingers crossed he's on the upswing.

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  2. Oh Juli, you ARE having a time of it, aren't you? But I did have to smile and nod when you said, "...they really need to take the *husband* factor into things...." I can sympathize. Hopefully, there won't be a next time but if there is - send in a note with all the pertinent information that the doctor's need - along with your phone number.

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  3. Frustrating indeed, men make us want to pull hair out or bang our head against the wall

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  4. I heard of a lot of pericarditis cases being mistaken for Covid so I'm glad he tested negative for that. If I remember correctly pericarditis is going to be challenging to treat (oh joy). Let's hope I got that one wrong. Hopefully Youngest will get his medication dose right but what a joy Oldest has been. That's something to be grateful for. I hope you are less than a month away from vacation. I hope it is much sooner than later!

    betty

    ReplyDelete

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