{"id":66611,"date":"2024-12-16T17:54:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T22:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/?p=66611"},"modified":"2024-12-21T22:57:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T03:57:25","slug":"dec-16-24-1-2-sitting-in-the-e-r-lake-havasu-medical-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/?p=66611","title":{"rendered":"DEC 16, 24 ( 1 \/ 2 ).. LAKE HAVASU MEDICAL CENTER.. SITTING IN THE E.R."},"content":{"rendered":"

A “Current Update” about Patti’s RSV pneumonia and now my own RSV infection.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

– – – – – – –\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Friday evening, 8:05pm Arizona time, December the 21st.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Where to now.? Patti’s medications have run their course. This evening Patti will take the final dose of her prescribed E.R. medications.<\/p>\n

Patti and I have differing opinions.<\/p>\n

Patti has said that she is not going back to the E.R. right now for another “look see” at her RSV pneumonia. The E.R. told Patti to return to the E.R. if her condition gets worse. Patti’s condition has not gotten worse. We both agree her condition has gotten slightly better.<\/p>\n

Based upon what I see and hear (this horrific, gasping for air and coughing) I feel another trip to the E.R. would be worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Patti admits she is not cured.<\/p>\n

What to do?<\/p>\n

I have no answers. I feel I have the RSV and it is a significant challenge.<\/p>\n

Cap<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

Friday evening, 7:05pm Arizona time, December the 20th.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Patti is far more optimistic that I am. Patti feels she is getting some relief from the meds. It no longer hurts Patti to cough. She feels she is not coughing as much and she feels she is less congested.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I add Patti slept basically the entire day until an hour or so ago. When she coughs it sounds very serious to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why NOT go to the hospital?<\/p>\n

According to the CDC, more than 1.7 million people get infections while in the hospital each year. About one in 25 hospitalized patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection that they didn’t come in with.<\/p>\n

I now join Patti as the second person in our household that is ill. I feel the RSV (a very BAD cold) has visited me. Two times in my life I have been hospitalized (one time for a full month in the Spring of 1959) and I don’t want to have my RSV “bad cold” turn into pneumonia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cap and Patti<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

Thursday evening, 6:28pm Arizona Time, December the 19th.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I wish, I wish, Oh How I wish I could say something positive here but the hard, cold fact of the matter is this: Patti is still struggling with her RSV pneumonia! We can not say she has made a significant and noticeable improvement.<\/p>\n

It “tears at my heart” when Patti wakes up suddenly, in the middle of the night, or when taking a nap, gasping and struggling frantically “to breathe.”<\/p>\n

Saturday is the last day Patti has a medical prescription: 40mg prednisone, Azithromycin 250MG tablet and 200mg Benzonatate capsules.<\/p>\n

Then what do we do? Ask The Shadow? No! Sad to say all of this is no laughing matter.<\/p>\n

Cap<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

Wednesday, 11:30pm Arizona time, December the 18th.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I wish that just visiting our Doctor today at 4:30pm, and having him increase the dosage of Patti’s prescription would cure Patti’s RSV pneumonia and would render Patti free of her coughing and the distress associated with it. Unfortunately such is not the case. We watched, and yes we enjoyed, the final episode of Survivor 47. But, from time to time, Patti would erupt into a “coughing jag”. She is also extremely fatigued from the coughing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There has been no real change or significant improvement.<\/p>\n

Cap<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

Wednesday, 6:30pm Arizona time, December the 18th.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Patti and I “were early” to our 4:30pm Doctors appointment.<\/p>\n

Bottom Line. He doubled her 5 day, 20mg prednisone dosage to 40mg. He stayed the course on her 5 day Azithromycin 250MG tablet and 5 day 200mg Benzonatate capsules.<\/p>\n

I live with Patti 24\/7. Her coughing is so severe I had the feeling Patti is at “Deaths door”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However..<\/p>\n

In my opinion, he did not seem “All that concerned” saying “We can only do so much with viral infections.”<\/p>\n

He did not react when I said the E.R. wanted to hospitalize Patti but didn’t have a bed available.<\/p>\n

He agreed that the E.R. would be “the route to hospitalization.” and they definitely can do some very good things in the E.R.<\/p>\n

Over And Out .. Cap<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

Wednesday, 1pm Arizona time, December the 18th.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Make no mistake, Patti is very seriously ill.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The E.R. discharge papers Monday evening said Patti needed to contact her primary care Doctor asap within 2 days. I went into our primary care doctors office yesterday (Tuesday the 17th). I was told .. “Sir the earliest we can see Patti is December the 30th!”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Translation: Patti will run out of medication this Saturday and be without medication for ten (10) days!<\/p>\n

This Wednesday morning, at 10am I, Patti’s Captain..<\/p>\n

RE VISITED<\/em><\/span> our primary care doctors office.<\/p>\n

Now Patti has an in person appointment with her doctor this afternoon<\/span>, Wednesday the 18th at 4:30p.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

No! I did not leave any dead bodies behind me but the doctor’s staff\u00a0 GOT IT.<\/p>\n

Over and Out for now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cap<\/p>\n

Post Script : This morning I got a RSV inoculation!<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

Tuesday evening, 8:14pm Arizona time, December 17th.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It has now been less than 24 hours since Patti was discharged from the E.R.<\/p>\n

This morning, Patti began a regime of three medications for her pneumonia.<\/p>\n

As I write, Patti is still in distress. The coughing continues with some improvement but Patti had a very challenging night last night.<\/p>\n

I don’t know what else to say at this point in time other than it will take some time for Patti to reach recovery.<\/p>\n

Cap<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

12 midnight.. December 16 \/ 17.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom Line. Our hospital did not have any vacant beds. If they had a bed, they would have admitted Patti. After quite a discussion with Patti, and a promise from Patti that if her symptoms worsened, she would immediately return to the E.R., they released her.<\/p>\n

We will see Patti’s primary care Doctor here in Lake Havasu City tomorrow, Tuesday the 17th, and see if we can get an appointment. Because of Patti’s E.R. visit, she will be at the top of his list to be seen asap.<\/p>\n

Patti is walking along a very dangerous path here.<\/p>\n

Over and Out .. Cap<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

7pm Arizona time.. December 16th..<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Patti has been diagnosed with pneumonia caused by the Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) a common respiratory virus that infects the nose, throat, and lungs. The pneumonia is\u00a0being treated aggressively with intravenous medicine. We are thrilled with the no nonsense care that Patti is receiving.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

The “Original Post”.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Monday, December the 16th 2024..<\/p>\n

An hour or so ago (12:30pm Arizona Time) Patti said the words..<\/p>\n

“Cap I am ready to go to the Emergency Room (E.R.)”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I asked Patti to go to the E.R. last Friday.<\/p>\n

No one I know goes to the E.R. “Just for the heck of it.”<\/p>\n

I feel Patti has covid. If so it would be her 4th infection.<\/p>\n

Absolutely horrific, almost 24-hour coughing, with some headaches included and a sore throat. Just like back in January 2020 at the Mayo Clinic E.R. before we knew what covid was.<\/p>\n

Over and Out for now.<\/p>\n

I may do some updates.<\/p>\n

Your Ally .. Cap<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to many text messages asking about Patti, I have decided to publish “updates” here. This will keep almost everything about Patti’s RSV pneumonia in one place. Right here.<\/p>\n

Below is a link for you to have so you can easily return to this Post for further updates.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/babakaps.net\/?p=66611<\/a><\/p>\n

If you wish, you can always “bookmark” the above link.<\/p>\n

Over And Out.. At least “for now”.<\/p>\n

Cap<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A “Current Update” about Patti’s RSV pneumonia and now my own RSV infection. – – – – – – –\u00a0 Friday evening, 8:05pm Arizona time, December the 21st. Where to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[987,1253],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emergency-e-r-room-visit","category-rsv-pneumonia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66611"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66735,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66611\/revisions\/66735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}