ok, on sunday i posted that ed took asher to emerg with (another) tube infection, and they prescribed clavulin. well, on monday, asher was febrile (low-grade fever), puffy, lethargic, somewhat irritable, and a really bad shade of blue/grey. so i took him to emerg. we saw dr joubert, whom i informed of the infection, and he was concerned, because, well, he knows asher by now. whenever we're in emerg and he's one of the attendings, we deal with him. it's lovely. i really like him, and the fact that he knows cardio better than any of the other emerg docs is reassuring. so he ordered bloodwork (CBC and culture) and a chest x-ray, just in case. but at the end of the day, there's no obvious signs of failure, and the bloodwork was a little off, but that could just be the tube infection. so he sent us home, promising to call if the culture was positive. he hasn't called. so i'm happy.
on another, non-asher note, i have now been admitted to hospital. i went to emerg in st thomas on tuesday night, thinking i had an ear infection that was affecting my throat, because the glands were swelling and i was having really trouble breathing. i was sent home with liquid codeine for the pain, and something to gargle. but how can you gargle when you can't tilt your head or breathe?? and liquid codeine would help... if i could swallow, which i couldn't. nice. my condition continued to deteriorate, and i couldn't sleep, couldn't breathe, couldn't swallow my own saliva, and my neck was so swollen i didn't have a chin anymore. my dear friend annie took me to emerg in london, where i was rushed in (within an hour, instead of 7-8), and quickly diagnosed with supraglottitis (an infection of the epiglottis, which causes it to swell and block the airway... yeah, it's potentially fatal. i have a tracheotomy kit beside my bed right now, and i was minutes from going to the OR to be intubated.) it was really scary. now i understand a bit of what asher goes through: no oral feeds, IVs, constant sat monitoring, bloodwork, stuck in a hospital all the time, trouble breathing, irritability and anxiety. yeah, it's scary. but now today, after several doses of IV steroids and antibiotics, some oxygen therapy and lots of fluids (when i'm allowed anything), seems to be doing the trick, and today i feel better than i've felt for days. oh, and let's not forget the pain meds. mmm... pain meds... although when you're NPO and have the munchies, it's not so fun. LOL
so that's an update for this week. hopefully there will be nothing else to post any time soon.
oh, no, i spoke too soon, but i'll put it in another post.
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