Skip to main content

Monday - Day 4

Monday - Day 4

Monday, August 29, 2022

8:52 PM

Monday, August 29, 2022

8:52 PM

The end of day four on stay three at the QEH.

 

Overall I’m feeling a little better. Today, the respiratory therapist moved me off the Airvo back on to regular oxygen. The Airvo is a system that has been blowing warmed, humid air, rich with oxygen into my nostrils. The warm wet air has helped loosen the fibrosis and made it a little easier to breathe. Moving back on to regular oxygen is an adjustment and my lungs have to work a little harder, but so far it’s going well. The Airvo also has only about a 5 foot large capacity tube, which has meant I can’t move very much. Now that I’m back on regular tubing I have about 18 feet of ‘leash’ giving a slightly greater range of movement. And even though my oxygen levels drop when I’m moving or tai-chi-ing, it’s important for me to keep the muscles working at least a little bit.

 

I’m about to refer to “the doctors” and I should explain why that’s plural. The QEH has what are called ”hospitalists”. This is a team of doctors, ten to twelve, who support all the patients in the hospital. I’m told by one of the hospitalists that this is a relatively new system in Canada, but is used in many other countries. By relatively new, I mean in the last decade or so. This doctor (hospitalist) said if you asked many Canadians what a hospitalist is they likely wouldn’t know. But if you asked a European, they would probably instantly know what you meant. The hospitalists work with the various specialists throughout to obtain the best possible care for each patient. My experience with this system has been positive. I’ve dealt with four different hospitalists and they are quite good at sharing information on me and with me.

 

The doctors suspect that I still have pneumonia in my lungs. I’m told it’s difficult to see the pneumonia because of all the fibrosis, but given the rapid decline in my breathing a week ago, they believe there is still some infection in there. They’ve put me on a specific antibiotic to fight the pneumonia. Fingers crossed.

 

For the past two days I have been able to do tai chi foundational exercises about 10 minutes twice a day. That too is progress.

 

Bottom line is that I’m getting a little more oxygen in my system which is giving more energy. I’m not where I was, but I have improved, marginally.

 

A nod of thanks to Jill and Bernie for the good food. While the hospital for is good, this added some nice flavour to my life. And as always, Mary is helping me keep going in so many ways.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Counting

  It’s feels strange to be counting the rest of my life in weeks and days and curling games on TV. While we haven’t finalized the date for MAiD we are aiming for early November. Some examples… Last week, confirmation of my cataract surgery arrived by mail with a date later in November. Nope. I won’t be here for that. A couple of days ago, a friend and former colleague dropped off some cookies and stayed for a brief visit. She said she would be out of province for about six weeks. As she was leaving, she said she would see me later. Nope. I won’t be here when you get back. The other evening I was asked why I was staying up so late. I replied that I was watching a women’s curling game and for me there were just a few games left in my life to watch so I was staying up. And all of a sudden it doesn’t feel as if there is enough time to make sure all the other things are looked after. One major item has been checked off the list: organizing and pre-paying for cremation. All I needed was ...
6 comments
Read more

After the Transplant Doctor Consultation

Last Friday started sunny and calm outside. Inside, another story. Getting out of bed is very difficult most days. It takes a lot of energy and oxygen to get myself going. This morning I found myself in a coughing loop. The more I coughed, the lower my blood oxygen level dropped. Coughing is physically exhausting. After being unable to stop coughing, I switched from the concentrator to a tank of oxygen which gives me purer O2 and helps break the coughing loop. It worked, but I had used a lot of physical energy. I only have so much and I needed to save some for my meeting with a doctor from the transplant team at Toronto General Hospital. The meeting started late because the video conferencing app Microsoft Teams didn’t work. [surprise, surprise; btw I hate MS Teams] We finally got the audio portion working, but the doctor could not see us. We could see her and we could hear each other. The first 30 minutes or so was the doctor exploring my health history. I’m getting very good at telli...
2 comments
Read more

How Are You Doing Anyways?

Fewer than three weeks away from the end of my life and I’m asking myself how am I doing.   As I am trying to live in the moment as much as is possible, I can say I’m doing alright. I can’t help myself when my mind wanders to contemplate that just after four in the afternoon in early November there will be no more me. In this brain which is always crackling with thought energy there will be nothing. An emptiness. It’s hard to wrap my head around it.   I think this is how and why some find comfort in the concept of an afterlife. They say to themselves, “surely this can’t be it“. But I think it is. We have one chance at life and if there is something after, it’s not who we were, if that makes sense. I can also see why people believe in miracles. They hope and hope that something supernatural will occur and magically they will be cured or returned to a previous state of better health.   I’m not frightened of what will be coming. In many ways, the end will be a relief. No mor...
4 comments
Read more