Anyways.
Three nights in the hospital and the second and third night she's been able to sleep, something she has not been able to do for a long time. See, she doesn't sleep much or very well to begin with and it's been getting worse for some time. Started with her not sleeping long in the bed and moving to her recliner. Then escalated to her laying down when I go to bed moreso for me, then going to her recliner. To finally just starting in her recliner to try to sleep and getting very little.
The past month she's been having trouble breathing or really getting winded after a very short while. She'd go to Dr. with Dr. prescribing a new asthma medication or saying it's a cold/sinusitis/bronchitis and prescribe antibiotics with steroids with a "check up in a month".
Meanwhile it's only getting worse.
To the point that two days after Christmas, we go to emergency room for, to me, a concerning but of leg swelling. That's a sign of heart issues BTW. That emergency room says gastritis, and bronchitis, sends us home. There was a prescription for something, can't remember and the full amount of a stomach medicine like Omeprazole. Oh, they did do an ultrasound on the swelling leg for any blood clots, there were none.
She checks up with normal Dr. and she gets some antibiotics and steroids shot. Make a checkup.
Doesn't help. Still having shortness breath and no sleep except for a few minutes at a time.
Things get no better, she goes to Minute Clinic at CVS. She gets more antibiotics and steroids. No change.
Back to regular Dr. for a "just needs to run its course".
...
.....
Anywhoo
Another Minute Clinic visit she gets some stomach meds because she's throwing up. Has been this entire time, it's just really worse now. They prescribe the nuclear option kind. They help at first but then they don't.
So. Saturday I get home early morning 2:30. We talk, I go to bed after a shower. She's in recliner not sleeping. I wake up to her throwing up she says she's fine, I go back to sleep. In the morning (noon), I wake up and make us something to eat. She eats most of breakfast. She's worried, I'm concerned, we decide to go to emergency room 20 miles away.
We get checked in and when we go back the PA and nurse dig down through her history. Blood is drawn, CT scan done, EKG hooked up. Wife is stressing about cost, I'm telling her don't worry about we'll get through this, I'm concerned about you and not the cost of this. You (her) being healthy is more important to me. This hospital says they think it looks like congestive heart failure, your being admitted, either here or the next hospital over.
Spoiler alert: it was the next hospital.
Away she goes in an announcement ride to the next emergency room. I understand that every Dr needs to probably hear why you decided to come to emergency room but after Dr. number three comes around, well you wonder if anyone is working any of this down or inputting into a computer that others can look at before seeing the patient. I'm sure there is a reason, maybe to make sure people aren't there to score pain meds or just a hypochodriac. I understand but in that moment it makes you feel frustrated. She sat in a room in the emergency room overnight (Saturday) and most of the next day (Sunday) before getting a room in the afternoon. The following day (Monday) they worked on getting her leg swelling down and drawing blood every six hours to check for a certain protein that the heart releases after a heart attack.
Tuesday, they did a heart catheterization to check for clogs, she was clear. Once she was back into her room, the cardiologist came by to give us the skinny. He doesn't think it's congestive heart failure but it's thinking more AFib. Which medication can help to strengthen heart, they believe it is weak from a possible viral infection. She will be fitted with a life vest, which is a vest that had an aed built so if her heart stops, it'll shock her back.
Wednesday, tomorrow, we hope she can go home. Hoping.
I started this only to say I'm sitting her beside her while she sleeps soundly for the first time in months. She wakes up occasionally after mumbling things, falls back asleep. One time, she had her arm up, palm flat and did like a queen wave, then back to sleep.
It's cute.
