Friday,
March 28th
through Saturday, March 29th
Friday dawned and
Duffy elected not to trying visiting his cousin in San Clemente. He
just did not feel strong enough to travel that far and spend quality
time on a long-past-due visit. So after canceling, Duffy puttered
around the trailer attempting to replace the broken slide in the
screen door. I, however, did not even wake up until noon or later.
The week must have taken its toll on me. When I did change clothes, I
climbed back into bed to read a book. Come 5:00pm, I decided it was
time to take a shower to see if that would revive me. We were due to
meet Skip and Susan, Tom and Cathy Larsen at Por Favor for dinner.
Duffy was feeling enough better to have a meal out; maybe the four
Casita walls were getting a bit tight – it's a pretty small area to
be confined in.
Dinner was great,
the company was better. We always enjoy spending time with these
four, make that five with Tom and Cathy's daughter Kimberly. I ate a
light meal, which was a wise choice because I was not feeling at 100%
of my normal energy and appetite. Duffy, likewise, ate light.
The rest of the
night went downhill. Duffy really thought he was getting better.
During the night, he was unable to sleep. His cough was persistent
and turned into spasms of coughing during which he was unable to take
in a breath. A couple of times he nearly passed out. I did not get to
sleep because I had slept the day away, and then Duffy's coughing and
odd mutterings when he did doze off, kept me awake. At 3:30am I
finally said, “I am not asleep, so if you think you need to go to
emergency, we can.” Not one to race to the doctor before the
critical point in an illness or injury, he surprised me by agreeing
to go. The inability to take a breath was scary and becoming more
frequent.
Long story short
– by 4:00am we were on the road to emergency at Kaiser Permanente,
having first contacted Group Health's Consulting Nurse. Four o'clock
is a good time to go to Emergency it turns out; the rest of the world
is sleeping, even on a Saturday morning after a clear and reasonably
warm Friday night when lots of accidents and injuries could have
taken place. Duffy got right in, especially after I let the staff
know he was having difficulty breathing. Five hours later, after
blood tests, xrays, and an EKG, Duffy was released with three
prescriptions and a diagnosis of bronchitis and a bit of pneumonia in
his right lung. Five hours seems to be the norm, give or take an
hour, even if a patient is seen right away in the Emergency room.
What caused the
respiratory problems, who knows? Most likely not the smoke in Laughlin or air conditioning at Viejas Arena. I am guessing this has been coming on for some time. We are more than grateful for the
professional and cheerful care, and amiable attention Duffy received
at Kaiser. We cannot say enough good things about the quality of
service and care.
Tonight, Duffy is
staying at my brother's house where he may get a better night's
sleep. He may stay there for a few days all told. He is equipped with
a Codeine cough suppressant, powerful antibiotics, and an inhaler,
plus an admonition from the medical staff to drink lots of water -
one-half his body weight in ounces. I am back in the trailer where I
hope to get a restful night's sleep after only a two-hour nap since
mid-day yesterday.
(NOTE: Awakened at 9:15am Sunday morning after 11 straight hours of much-needed sleep.)
Good night all.
Happy dreams.
Until next
time...Pam and Duffy
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