Well, Mark is back in the hospital. He had a syncopal episode last night after I had fallen asleep. (In other words, he passed out just long enough to fall down.) Jason took him to the ER, and I stayed home with the boys. When I heard from him about 7:30, he was in severe pain and the doctor wouldn't give him anything more than Tylenol. I called and talked to his nurse, Andrea, who is an absolute sweetie. She said her hands were tied, but "allowed" for the fact that a patient's family had the prerogative to push for better care if they didn't feel they were receiving what they needed. She put me through to the Doc, and I got him to agree to at least call and have a chat with the specialists at OHSU. When I talked to Mark again about an hour later, he said that they had decided to admit him.
But .... the big "but"... No more narcotics. Even the cardiologists, who have encouraged us time and again to go to the ER for pain relief, have suddenly cut him off. We don't know why. But they have also moved up his cardiac catheterization to Wednesday. We have to be there at 6:30 a.m. After that, they will decide what procedures he might be eligible to relieve some of his symptoms.
In addition to his pain, he is throwing a lot of PVCs (heart arrhythmias), which hurt quite a bit but are apparently benign. His BP is a bit high but stable. His body temperature is low. 95 degrees. I looked up what that could mean, but there are any number of possibilities, and nobody is rushing around like the sky is falling, so I assume it's okay for now.
I talked with the hospitalogist before I left today, and we worked out a narcotics-free plan that will (we hope) enable him at least to sleep.
2 comments:
I'm so sorry to hear about all this.
Hi Jenn!
Sorry I haven't kept up better. My own health problems have had life a bit in an uproar lately. I'm sorry to hear about the way things are going with Mark but I have to say that sometimes change, whether it appears to be positive or negative, is good. Sometimes things just need to move and change, even if it's scary, in order to get things headed in the right direction. Am I making any sense? Anyway, just know that you are all in our thoughts and prayers. Love you loads!
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