Music, Bronchoscopies, and Apartment Hunting

This morning, early, when I texted out my first update on the good news, I received a text back from a good friend. He has a specific ringtone, “Neon Moon” by Brooks & Dunn, his favorite song. When it came on, Amanda opened her eyes wide and looked at me. I guess she was ready to go dancing! It’s funny how music is. Today, I got the Firestick hooked up, just to play music. I’m not in the mood to watch TV at all. My soul was fed, and I hope Amanda’s was, listening to worship music all day today. I know some nurses were, too, as some sang along.

There is one song in particular, Hard Fought Hallelujah, that I wrote on before. It’s our new anthem song, I believe, mine for sure. This time around, for me, it’s a hard-fought hallelujah. I’ve struggled with this rejection stemming from a man’s actions towards Amanda. As a protector, a husband, and a man, I want to do something about it. I’m trying to be the bigger person, the Christian man I think I’m called to be, but it’s been damn hard. Especially how I took the high road and didn’t try to handle things physically, as I wanted to. We went to the authorities after ample time for the person’s family to try to rectify things, only to have the small-town, good-ole-boys system rob us of justice in the end anyway. The need, as a protector, is strong, and I fight my flesh every time I go back to the town I love. That’s my own personal battle on top of everything else we face now. It’s one hell of a hard-fought hallelujah for me.

“Yeah, I don’t always feel it. Yeah, but that’s when I need it the most. So, I’ma keep on singing ‘Til my soul catches up with my song. I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt. Been-through-hell hallelujah (ooh, ooh) And I’ll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail. Story-to-tell hallelujah, oh. ’Cause God, You’ve been patient. God, You’ve been gracious. Faithful, whatever I’m feeling or facing. So I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah, whoa-oh. Hallelujah (ooh, ooh), hallelujah.”

The song came on tonight, and the night nurse, whom I really like and who has been the same for the last three nights, said she saw it performed at the CMA Festival a few weeks ago. The addition of Jelly Roll singing the song has been a twist. I love how he pours his heart out in the song. Jelly Roll most definitely isn’t your typical Christian artist. He may not have the best language, look, or attitude, and as I told the nurse, he’d probably make a bunch of old deacons’ wives mad. But he’s genuine and says he’s a work in progress and is no longer the man he was 5 years ago. I think he’s a breath of fresh air. His audience, perhaps some who’d never set foot in a church, are getting the gospel. We need more people to be authentic and say Hey, I don’t have it together. I’m just trying my best to follow Jesus, and I fail regularly, but I’m better today than I was years ago. And some days, I think we might be worse than we were years ago, but hey, we’re all work in progress. The world needs more authentic, non-judgmental Christians. I hope I’m the kind that would like that, and one that would welcome a Jelly Roll in my church, or just in passing.

They performed a bronchoscopy to take a look around and see how Amanda’s lungs were doing. While they performed it, I stepped out and decided to go look at a couple of apartments. I went to my top choice first. It’s in northern Brentwood and not far from Beverly, our Nashville heart friend. I liked the place the minute I drove in. It is a large gated property on rolling hills. The tour was self-guided, which I didn’t care for. I never saw anyone from the property. I was able to view the unit I was interested in, and it is currently available. It’s a two-bed, one bath like we had in Houston. Unlike our Houston apartment, it is newer with tall 10-foot ceilings and feels much bigger than its 900 square feet footprint. It’s a ground-floor unit. If parked directly in front, there were three steps; at a longer walk, it was all level ground, and I could wheel the chair in if needed. It also had a washer and dryer in the unit. Ample storage and even a storeroom on the porch for my box hoarding. It will be hard to beat this one. The other one I visited isn’t even worth writing about, cheaper but hoodish with steps everywhere.

I made a stop by Beverly’s home between apartment tours. I needed my undies washed! I’m not much on having a friend wash my chonies, but I only had a select few and was in need. I guess we’ll be on a different level of friendship now! I stayed and chatted with her for a bit, then went across town to the other apartment. I got a call from a Vanderbilt number. I assumed it was the nurse telling me they were done with the Bronch. I was wrong; it was someone from the transplant team informing me that my insurance was terminated on June 30 and we were without coverage. Yeah, you can imagine how I felt, gut-checked. I wasn’t that worried, it takes 7 days of work or paid leave to qualify for insurance. You can bet your sweet butt, I’ve been on top of that! I guess I didn’t act shocked enough; the lady seemed way more concerned than I. I called UCH to get to the bottom of it. I can’t call anyone at Union Pacific directly; I can only put in a virtual “ticket.” UCH said the railroad reported me on a leave of absence, so they terminated it. I was only on a two-week leave. I worked about 15 days in the little over two weeks I was home, which was double the required time needed. I was hot but didn’t let the insurance lady have it, I wanted a piece of you know what out of the Union Pacific timekeeping department! It was a clerical error, but not one I wanted to deal with in the midst of this. I sent a nice but potent virtual ticket to them. Let’s just say I used the ‘my wife just had a transplant’ card!

I got word they were done with the Bronchoscopy and headed back. But first, I stopped at the Joint to have an adjustment. The hospital sitting is doing a number on my back. I got the full report from the nurse, and then I listened in on the ICU team’s rounding, as well. They removed some old clothes. I know you’re thinking what I did, ‘How old?’ I’m not really sure; they weren’t red and fresh, so it’s hard to say, days, years, who knows. Then he washed her lung out. The opposite side was red, likely irritated from suction. So the nurses are limited to a specific kind of suction now to prevent any more inflammation from suction.

Also, when I came in, I noticed Amanda’s leg was up. This is a sign she’s hurting. The nurse said she had a nasty bout of pain, and she even needed a little more pain med to get it under control. I think the nurse just got behind since Amanda was sleeping and didn’t think she was in pain, plus the added discomfort from the bronch. I was kicking myself for being gone so long and not catching it. I am going to have to find us a place to live sooner or later, though. 

It was late in the evening when they started the PLEX, about the time I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I just decided to skip eating altogether. Cool yalls mama bear butts down, I’m fine and fast an entire day regularly! 2024 was unkind to my wait line, and I’m holding on to a heavy reserve. Maybe the fast will eat into that a little bit! The PLEX prep is intense; the person performing it has to stay the whole time, never leaving the room while it runs for 4 hours. Before they start, they have to read Amanda’s name, DOB, and medical record number off back to the nurse for each bag of plasma, twice, for all 17 bags today!

The NP came by to do their exam before rounds, so I knew it was getting close for them to come by. I stood out in the hall like I was a part of the team. Hey, I did get an invite from McChicken to join rounds when we first arrived! All her numbers looked good; I could see they were feeling good about things. The doc, the one who reintubated her, was leading things. I like him, and he said she should be extubated in 12 hours or so. Mentioning, as I’d seen, things could change quickly, so as not to get my hopes up. He did reassure me by saying that what happened with Amanda isn’t all that uncommon; they are a big center and see this a lot.

The nurse had returned from vacation before she started her three days with us. Of course, I wanted to know where: Italy and Switzerland. I was a bit jealous when I heard that! We had a friend ask where our first-second heartiversary would be. I was quick to say Italy and Switzerland. Amanda’s top place is Italy, and mine is Switzerland. I already have a new San Antonio railroad friend who’s a seasoned European traveler who almost moonlights as a travel agent for coworkers, lined up to help plan it! The nurse shared some fantastic photos of the mountains and her train ride up to Lake Como; I was really jelly then!

As I laid down in the bed last night, I was hot and I thought about how I could use a fan. I’ve had a nice USB collapsible fan on my list to buy for church camps, but I’ve been too cheap to buy it because it’s pricey. As I laid there, I thought, ‘Okay, I’m splurging and buying it.’ I need to be comfortable, I rationalized! I love the city, it arrived this morning. It is small, the size of a deep saucepan. It extends up, oscillates, and even has a remote. I’m going to love this thing tonight and next summer camp season. It’s the little things!