Irv Update - February 2011 #2

Dear F&F;

Irv and I went to the cardiologists this morning for Irv's 9:30 am appt. Irv was still in a-fib. It was decided that Irv would come back tomorrow and have a cardio-version done under some sort of anesthesia. While we were waiting for all that to be scheduled, Irv developed impressive chest pain and vomiting. The doctor was in the room for all this so he saw first hand just what was happening. After about 7 tries an IV was started and fluids given plus an anti-nausea drug. (Irv had tried to take a heart drug but vomited it back up in about 30 seconds.) Dr. Noble, the cardiologist, had the lab people come and draw a bunch of blood and, of course, an EKG was done. EKG showed the a-fib, the heart lab tests were normal, BUT he had quite an elevated white count of 20,000 and his liver tests were up as well.

Dr. Noble got Dr. Koteen (gastroenterologist) and Dr. Kowalski (surgeon) on board. Between them they decided to direct admit Irv into the hospital to see if he has developed a severe infection from his surgery, has another abdominal problem, or what? The a-fib is now secondary. A CT scan of the abdomen is scheduled for this afternoon, but there was a mix-up about which hospital based doctor was going to see Irv so it hadn't been officially scheduled by the time I left at 3:30 pm. ^%$#*)

By the time I left Irv was being monitored via telemetry (the cardiac unit was full so he is on a general medical floor) and waiting for the CT. He was feeling pretty good. We had brought the dogs into town with us as we were going to go to our favorite breakfast place and split a breakfast. (Irv still isn't eating very much food.) Then we were going to take the pups to one of several dog off-leash parks in Bend and come on home. Obviously, that didn't happen. I took the dogs out twice during all this chaos but leaving them in the car much longer wasn't an option so I had to come home with them.

I was getting a little calmer until the hospitalist finally came. She asked questions, got a history, did a physical exam and then proceeded to ask about advance directive stuff such as if Irv did go into cardiac arrest how aggressive did he want the medical staff to be. (We both feel strongly that when your body is ready to die, let it! Both of us have seen way too many people rotting away in the hospital on every imaginable device to keep the body working, but that person is not necessarily alive.) Anyway, then I could only imagine that they were thinking he was on death's doorstep. Not a very nice place, let me tell you.

I'm waiting for Irv or the doctor to call with the CT results. I'll relay them when I have them. I will be back very early in the morning to catch all the doctors on their morning rounds and will hopefully see what the plan is for that day. It is conceivable that Irv could still have the cardio-version and come home tomorrow. Not likely, but possible!

Penny