Thanksgiving

All too often I spend this day as most others in a hurried rush. Quickly checking things off of my list. Rushing from one place to another. But this Thanksgiving I spent the day at the hospital with Tim. We didn't much, mostly because we couldn't. I was forced to slow down and for that I am thankful. For if I hadn't, I might have missed something special...something I could have never planned for. Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks for all that one has. This Thanksgiving I was especially reminded that EVERY day is a day to give thanks.

Not Again

Last weekend was awesome. We went to Estes Park. We spent the night Saturday and came home late Sunday afternoon. We didn't do much but it was great to get out of the house and see beautiful Colorado.

Sunday evening took a drastic turn for the worse at about 8 p.m. when Tim came down with another high fever. We went straight to ER and that was a nightmare. They did the standard stuff...draw blood, urine sample and chest x-ray. They didn't tell us much that night and finally admitted him around 1:00 a.m.

As of now, it's looking like he has the same thing he had a week ago. Of course knowing what is wrong is only part of the problem. They have to figure out why. Right now I hope this is a medical problem and not a surgurical problem. One more surgery just seems more than either one of us can handle.

The pain in Tim's back seems to be getting worse and the pain pills he normally takes don't seem to be working anymore. Since he's been in the hospital, they've been giving him shots of morphine which seem to help...for awhile. However, morphine is a quick acting, short lasting drug and after a couple hours the pain comes right back and he needs more. And with all those drugs he does a lot of sleeping as one might expect. But there's a moment. A moment right after he's been given the morphine and just before he falls asleep where time stands still and everything is perfect. He's pain free and coherant. He smiles at me and I'm taken back to a time that was less hectic and filled with far less worry. It's in those moments that I find the strength to keep going for Tim...for us. I cling to the hope that a feeling like that will be longer than just a moment.

An Early Release

Just as quickly as we found out Tim had E. coli, he was released from the hospital with some antibiotics. The final results from the blood work said the bacteria was sensitive to just about everything. Once we found that out, the doctor wrote Tim a prescription and told him he could leave. He called me around 8 a.m. Sunday morning to tell me the news. The puppas and I picked him up and by 9:30 a.m. he was back home.

A couple weeks ago right before this all started, we had planned to have breakfast at Whole Foods. It didn't happen. Since Tim was feeling so well after being released, we went to Whole Foods to have that breakfast. He got his favorite, Eggs Benedict.

Well...

The results from Tim's blood work are partially in and it looks he has E. coli in his blood stream. This is a very dangerous bacteria. Right now we are waiting to find out how severe it is. This affects when and if he gets to go home. Wow. I am at a loss for words right now. Looking back I guess it makes sense. Now I know why he has been so sick the past couple of days.

The Last Couple Days

Sunday evening Tim came down with a fever of 104. We were able to contact the on call resident for Tim's surgical team who recommended alternating Perocet and Advil to bring it down. We did that and things seemed to be going well. Monday morning I drove Tim to Denver for a follow up appointment with his surgeon. He prescribed some anitbiotics and told Tim to see his oncologist in Colorado Springs.

This morning I dropped Tim off at the Rocky Mountain Cancer. All was going well until his temperature went back up to 104. After a couple of hours, his doctor decided to admit him to Memorial. I know he didn't want to and Tim definitely didn't want to but he's way too sick to be home.

After work I went home to eat and fee the dogs. I packed up some of Tim's things and arrived around 7:30 p.m. He seemed to be doing well until he started getting violent chills and rigors. Yep you guessed it his temperature went back up to 104. When I left him it was headed back down and he seemed to be doing better.