Well, I slept good. The nearly two weeks in the hospital are catching up. I went to bed early and slept past shift change. Amanda, on the other hand, may have gotten 20 minutes, the nurse said. The sleep med did not seem to work too well. The night nurse was also lazy and didn’t…

The morning report was good. Amanda’s pain was under control with the pump, but she had to push it to get the medication; quick acting, but not long-lasting. The new ICU attending, sadly replacing Dr. Mery, was quick to want to add oral pain meds along with the pump. She ordered one medication, then I…

All good news in this post! (Well, I got ahead of myself when I wrote that earlier today. Read on to see why I’m going to end up being fully grey when I return to Texas! All in all, we are improving.) Yesterday, as soon as they took Amanda back for the biopsy, I took…

It was a much-needed good night. Probably the most restful for her Amanda, but not so much for me! The CRRT machine beeps loudly when it needs to be changed. The nurse had another shadowing her, so they were talking, and the bathroom door was often left open, with lights shining. All not letting me…

Amanda was stable overnight. Her white count elevated, so they sent blood cultures to check for infection. She finally warmed temperature-wise, almost on the hot side, no more burrito. Her skin was cold, then hot to the touch, and she was sweaty, even when cold. My cousin from Louisiana was here in Nashville and came…

I don’t feel I’m as involved with this team. The cardiologist must be a late riser; I don’t see him till rounds and then after lunch for his “post” rounds. I like the evening ICU team, though, in particular, the doctor who did the intubation. There was a discussion of a CT to check her…

Close to 2 in the morning, I was startled awake by the NP. I’d only been asleep maybe an hour and a half, so I was probably hard to wake. The news wasn’t good; Amanda’s CO2 levels still weren’t in a good place. The room was filling with people; the lights turned on. An ICU…

Sunday night, after I expressed my concern, the nurse called the NP to come back to talk with us. I had asked Amanda her pain level on a scale of 1-10, and she told me 7. This was after the muscle relaxer had had plenty of time to take effect. She looked miserable, and every…

After I got back from dinner, Amanda woke up a bit and wanted some ice chips. She was up enough for me to tell her all about my new friends and how our Nashville support system is growing, and I had someone to decorate the apartment! I crashed after ice chip feeding. I didn’t sleep…

I was pretty tired and got some decent sleep Friday night. I slept like a rock all the way through the recliner theft and even shift change. Even with all the sleep, I still put my hoodie on backwards after I had a shower. The nurse looked up and said, “Barkley, you have your hoodie…