Weekends in hospital

The weekends in a hospital are not exactly full of useful info. I mean a doctor looks in and does their thing.  

What I wish for is a heart to heart conversation, but Dr. P and I sort of had that on Friday. The Living Will and DNR papers are active for now. If he were to go home and come back, I'd have to make sure they know those papers need to be activated as every time a patient comes in, they are considered a Code patient. Meaning, they will save the life if at all possible.

This is pretty good information to know.

Her opinion was 'wait and see'. 

He did have a minor improvement in being able to breathe. Not enough to come off the High Flow Therapy. It is specialized equipment meant for those who have orders not to be put on a ventilator or a DNR order. However, according to studies, dramatic improvement happens in 24 hrs.

That drama has not happened. 

Rich and I discussed trying to find out Monday if he can somehow be put on Hospice at home to pass away. He doesn't want to fight and he doesn't want to stay in a hospital.

Saturday was pretty quiet at the hospital, I sat and read and spoke to the nurses who were all kind and very positive. Apparently Rich is a favorite patient as the nurses quibble over who gets assigned to him for the day. Steroids, antibiotics, and lots of nebulizer treatments all day, all night are what he has going on. 

Rich and I were able to have time to talk about things and his wish is to be able to get off the specialized equipment and to come home with Hospice involved. That would mean visits by a nurse at home and no re-admission with his next exacerbation of his COPD.

The goal for the weekend was to transfer him to a recliner and see if he could tolerate a reduction in the high flow therapy.

Sunday was interesting. Rich's ol' fishing buddy came to see him. While the two visited [Steve said Rich just slept part of the time], I met up with my Legend Girls for coffee for an hour. We chatted and told funny stories and talked about places we'd dreamt about visiting.

I spoke with his Resp. Therapist in the hallway and asked her if she thought he'd be able to come home with Hospice. I told her that we'd discussed it. She said that was an excellent program for him and his wishes. 

When I came back from coffee time, Rich's daughter, her hubby, Ariel, and Steve were all in the room. 

Since Steve was ready to leave, I took the advantage of that. Ariel and I went home to take Charlie for a nice long walk on our gravel road so he could do his doggy stuff. 

On the way back in...I  stopped to see the nurses. The daughter, her hubby and a surprise visit from our friends in Missouri had all visited but had gone out to lunch.

The nurses said Rich was exhausted. They put a Quiet Time sign on his door and I texted all visitors that Rich was not going to see anyone from lunch until at least 3 or 4pm, they had to see me first in the family waiting room.

So the end result of Sunday was that a lot of folks came by. He did get in the recliner. They did reduce the airflow on his High Flow pillow cannula and he did seem to have a slight improvement in breathing. 

He actually ate 3 bites of an omelet at breakfast, drank water, had a milkshake for lunch, and had half a little burger and a milkshake for his supper.

Monday. Today, I hope to get some sort of directions from a doctor as to whether our plan and goals are even doable. I will be calling the VA Social 'Miracle' Worker to see what our options are through the Veteran's Administration.

The Missouri folks will stop in shortly to see Rich this morning and then they will head home.

Tuesday afternoon we have a Winter Storm Watch with blizzard conditions possible, high winds, and either rain and snow for us or 6" of wet heavy stuff.
If I am forced to be home through the storm, I will catch up on rest, and get the laundry folded.

I have to include this in my update for this morning. People and neighbors are incredible. 

There were visits to Charlie, there was prepared food put in my frig, and groceries left on my counter. This all done just because.