Troy in room 19

I think I am an empathic and caring person and I think I carry that personality trait to my profession as a nurse, but I know I will be much more empathic and have a greater understanding of the realities of being a patient and patient's family member after these past days.

Troy has been at the hospital since Thursday night. He spent 12+ hrs in the ED waiting for a room because it was more difficult to find a room that had negative pressure in it. This was necessary for the precautions for TB. We are pretty sure that he has Valley Fever, but the doctors have not ruled out TB all together. Tomorrow Troy gets to have a bronchoscopy and that should give a more definitive answer.  

Troy hasn't been feeling well for the past week and a half. He would have high fevers 103 or 102 and then they would go away. He was fatigued and barely had any appetite, but other than the fevers, it was nothing too major. Then he developed a cough, so he finally went to the urgent care. The diagnosis was  "nasal pharyngitis" due to dry air. Cough medicine and nasal decongestant was prescribed. The only "help" from the medicine was the crazy dreams and hallucinations that the cough syrup gave Troy.

The next day, he went to work and started having chest pains. Nothing helped it so he went back to Urgent Care. He said the magic word of "chest pain" and was seen immediately. No heart attack. Chest X ray was clear and doctor said that he probably had torn some cartilage from the forceful coughing. It was supposedly very painful. So he was prescribed some ibuprofen. 

The pain was excruciating for the next 12+ hrs. No tylenol or ibuprofen would touch it. We weren't sure what to do. It felt sort of weird to go to ED or back to urgent care for pain meds, but it seemed to be the only option when the urgent care called us back and informed that he had a cavity lesion on his left lung. It was most likely Valley Fever and we were advised to go to the ED.

So we drove to UMC ED and Troy was checked in quickly. The doctor initially seemed to blow us off as if we had already gotten the care that we needed. I was frustrated because his pain was so bad and they still kept only talking about the ibuprofen. The Valley Fever didn't even seem to raise any flags for her. Fortunately, Troy's heart rate was up and that seemed to alarm her so she decided to do a test for a blood clot. I say fortunately because I don't think we would have gotten the attention and testing needed if his heart rate would have been normal. Blood test for a clot came positive so they wanted to do a CT scan, which ended up showing the cavity lesion which is seen in Valley Fever and TB. 

Friday was miserable. Antibiotics and antifungals were running. Morphine was given and tons of blood test were ordered. Troy was still in lot of pain and very exhausted. His breathing was labored and everything took so much effort.  It was hard to see him like that. 

Saturday, he felt better and thanks to awesome nurses who came him as pain meds every 4 hrs (almost to the minute), he was a happy man. However, a simple facetime for 30 minutes would still wear him out and he would nap a lot. He was barely eating because it would take too much energy out of him. 

Today he showered and ate more than before. His breathing is much better. He also gave a doctor a piece of his mind when she was checking her iphone while rounding on Troy. My red rage is back and I am happy to see him returning. 

How are we doing? Eerika hasn't noticed really anything. Saku is more moody and sad at times. Today he told me that he was mad because isi left. He said that he  "didn't want to facetime or call, but wanted to meet him".  This just proves how perceptive and sensitive kids are to changes. Tonight he told Troy that he wants to see Troy at his house, not at the hospital.  He really misses his best friend isi but honestly, he has been so good. He has been excited about playing with different friends and I am grateful for that. 

I am doing fine. I am tired, more so emotionally than physically. It is exhausting to be the support person during times like this.  I feel very grateful for many things. First of all, there has been so much support from people around us. I love to know that my kids are in good hands when I'm at the hospital. It is nice to not have to cook dinner or eat chicken nuggets again for dinner. I'm grateful for my medical knowledge and the ability to ask right questions and find the answers to them. I am grateful for the priesthood and prayers. I am grateful for this man in room 19 who I love more than anything. 

Saku was scared of the IV machine and isi wearing a mask. We called it a super hero mask but he was still didn't want to stay too long. 

Saku did enjoy the elevator buttons at the hospital.

And Eerika liked the french frys from the cafeteria.

Eerika can't go and visit him because she won't keep a mask on. Saku was with Troy for 10 minutes or so. It will be nice once the TB isolation is over and we can spend more time as a family.