Jerry was in the hospital from Feb. 2 -10. He had a raging UTI. I had told the nursing home in the very beginning that when Jerry has UTIs, he needs to see his urologist so she can prescribe the antibiotics for drug resistant bacteria.
The on-call doctor they use started him on a low end-of-the-scale antibiotic. That didn't work, so they tried something slightly more potent, but still doesn't work for drug-resistant bacteria. About a week into that one, I emailed the nurse team leader for Jerry asking if it was working. All she replied with was, "He's not complaining of any symptoms."
Hmmm.
Jerry would call me every other evening at 6:00 (he has to use the available phone of the nursing home because he doesn't have a phone of his own since I can't be trust him with one). He seemed fine when I took him to his bi-weekly wound care appointment on Jan. 29. Going from there, he should have called me the Friday after that at 6:00, but he didn't. I figured he went to bed early, or fell asleep in his recliner watching tv.
He did call me Saturday evening (Feb. 1). As soon as he began talking, I knew something wasn't right but couldn't put my finger on it, and since I no longer have "eyes on" him all the time, I'm unable to gauge what's going on with him. He didn't sound "with it." He told me the day before that he canceled his supper and went back to his room and slept instead. Then he told me he had been sleeping most of that day (Saturday). I asked specific questions that he didn't answer to my satisfaction, and he said he was tired and didn't feel well, so wanted to just go to bed. We made our kissy-kissy noises, said good night and hung up.
Sunday, Feb. 2 about mid-afternoon, the weekend nurse called me. She said she had Jerry at her desk and he'd asked her to call me. He was dizzy and almost passing out (this is called syncope), and not feeling well. I told her those are his symptoms that he has a raging UTI and she needed to get him to the emergency room immediately. She called EMS and they got him to the hospital here where I met them.
His UA and labwork results confirmed what I already believed was going on - a drug-resistant UTI. The hospital did multiple tests on him because of his dizziness and syncope ("passing out"), but everything came back with no problems, further confirming everything is associated to the UTI. I called the nurse at the nursing home and told her how it was going, then explained those are his symptoms. She actually said she'd never seen anyone with a UTI have dizziness or syncope. I was astounded. I know so many people who go through that, even I have some dizziness with a UTI. Every other medical professional we know has encountered that. So, her comment really threw me. All this time, over the three weeks of them giving him low-end antibiotics, the bacteria was building in him - the kind that is resistant to those low-end antibiotics. 🤦🏻♀️
Anyway, Infectious Disease ordered a potent drug to be done via twice-a-day infusion for 14 days. We learned that the nursing home he was in didn't have an evening infusion nurse, so they couldn't do it twice a day. Long story short (haha), yesterday afternoon he was transferred out-of-town to a different nursing facility who can do twice-a-day infusion. No, there wasn't anything available within our town, every facility is filled to capacity. Jerry will be there until the full 14-day course of infusion is finished. He sounded reasonably good last night when he called me from there.
Since his room could only be held for a certain amount of days at the facility where we originally had him, he was about to surpass that while in the hospital, and the nursing director brought all his belongings to me. The hope, though, is that they will have a room available for him at the end of his infusion days at the other facility so that he can go back to the original place that we love so much. Please pray for that. And for him to get over that durn flu and UTI.
It's supposed to snow here beginning late this afternoon. Anywhere from 5-10". We had that ice and blizzard/snow in January where most of our area had over a foot of snow on top of almost an inch of ice. Yes, driving was crazy and drivers were crazier. 🙄 There are still snow piles and ice here and there because the temperatures have stayed so low.
Our area has been hit so hard with weather for a couple years. One of the worst was when we had that derecho in May '24 that devastated our town and the smaller communities around us. I was sitting at my desk by the window when the derecho suddenly blew up - I saw the patio furniture (from the smoking area where those people go) fly by the window! Some pieces were never found. Just as we were almost through with cleanup - which took nearly a month! - we had three microbursts go through in June '24, and cleanup had to start all over. The usual tornados came near us, but stayed away.
The tornado siren system is a subject being talked about within our communities. It's antiquated and there have been some serious problems with it not working during the usual weekly tests and it has actually had numerous failures during actual tornados. For one, the siren in the little town where I live doesn't work at all. They've been using the salt mine horn (the start work/stop work horn) - which is very loud! - as the warning system for us. There are three salt mines in our Hutchinson/South Hutchinson area. The one where we live is only 6 blocks away, so I hear it well. I know when the workers start their day, when they can eat lunch, when they have to get back to work, and when they leave work. I can set my clocks by it! 😂
Welp, that seems to be it at the moment. I'm fine, just going through each day, depending on the Lord. For now, I'll leave you with this ...
Everyone have a blessed day! 🌻
Diana
No comments:
Post a Comment