Rough day...

So yesterday was a bit of a rough day at work. We started the shift by almost coding two patients....twenty minutes apart. Not the way I want to start! They ended up fine, thank goodness. We ended the day by transferring a patient to the ICU....the same patient that came to us FROM them a couple of hours earlier. Not so nice.

Then...I get home at about 830pm. The phone rings at about 845pm. You know...sometimes you get that "feeling" like there isn't going to be the best news? I had that feeling, and I was right. It was my mom. My grandpa is in the hospital. My grandma called my mom Sunday night, saying that she thought Grandpa had a small stroke. My mom took off for their house, and my dad stayed and called the ambulance. Mom got to the house about the same time as the ambulance. Well, Grandpa didn't have a stroke, thank goodness, but he was lethargic and out of it. To the hospital they went. They admitted him. He has sepsis. They got the blood cultures back supposedly (I'm a little skeptical...we never get them back that fast). They don't know where the infection started. They started him on Vancomycin iv. Mom says he looks better now that he's had a few doses of antibiotic, and she says she doesn't think I need to come down. Sometimes she just tries to not worry me...we'll see.

Grandpa being in the hospital poses another problem. My grandma has dementia...Grandpa has been running the house, etc. Grandma has to be reminded to eat, get dressed, take medications, etc. I'm not sure how long Grandpa has to be in the hospital...Vancomycin is usually a 7-10 day course, if I remember correctly. Mom and my aunts are going to have to try and take care of Grandma while also taking care of Grandpa.

And then...yes there's more. Dad's had this dry cough for a while. At Christmas time, I pushed them to get it checked out. They eventually went to his primary care doctor (in Rockford) who took a chest xray that showed nothing and put him on antibiotics. The cough didnt' go away. Mom and Dad didnt' tell the doctor that it didnt' go away, and the doctor did no follow-up. Dad is going to start seeing a speech therapist because of his Parkinsons. His first appointment was last week...I think on Thursday. The therapist (in Madison) was concerned by Dad's cough (yes...still has it!) So they scoped his nose and throat. They found a spot (lesion) on one of his vocal cords. The doctor was concerned...he said he was fairly sure it wasn't cancer, but they're going to biopsy it anyway. The appointment for the biopsy is Feb. 10.

I'll try to keep things posted as I find out more details!