Friday, February 1, 2019

Friday, February 1, 2019 10:00 am


Good news:  He passed through a crisis, and he's not expected to die immediately.  He is doing better than expected.

Bad news: There are many factors at play, and there could be a downturn at any time.

            Jean, Mike's first wife, Damon, his son, arrived on Tuesday night. Mike's niece, Shivani, came on Wednesday.  Damon had reserved rooms in a 3-star hotel, which was a little depressing. He asked me what I needed.  I said nature.  I was thinking of taking more walks and being in the sunshine and communing with trees.  Damon moved us to a 5-star hotel with a view of the marina and ocean.   It wound up being really enjoyable. The room has large windows that open wide.  Damon and I had the same thought: don't they have problems with people committing suicide?
            It's been interesting. I see that my last message was only from Wednesday at 1:30 pm.  He went to the ICU the day before.  I went up the cafeteria to have breakfast, came down to a circus routine.  It wasn't a code blue or red.  It was the emergency call just under that.
     I am very fortunate. Due to Mike's connections and community building, I was able to call one of the Deacons and tell him that I didn't want to be alone. Within ten minutes, someone was there.  He had called someone who lived nearby, and she drove right over. Three other people arrived within half an hour.  The man and his wife, John and Kathy Coughlin, stayed with me until Damon and Jean arrived.
             Mike's prognosis is tricky.  He has made better than expected progress, and there are possible pitfalls along the way that may still take his life.  Either way, it will be a long slow process, unless there's a crisis and an abrupt end.  I am trying to prepare for all eventualities, both the bad and the good.
            A fun note that some of you are already aware of: He pulled out his ventilator tube on his own last night.  Fortunately, they were thinking of pulling it out today anyway, and his vitals were stable enough that they didn't have to put it back in.
            Now that he can talk, he is making it clear he doesn't want to be there.  He is delirious due to the medication, pain killers and sedation, and lack of food. He has had no nutrition since last Thursday. This is because any food intake- even through a stomach tube- can trigger the pancreas to go back into action and kill off more of itself. They have put him on intravenous nutrients now.   This is NOT a tube directly into the stomach, oh no. This is a tube that puts food directly into his blood; it bypasses the GI system so as not to aggravate his condition and trigger the pancreas into action. This is the first nutrition he is getting in over a week.
            The treatment for this disease is still quite primitive. It is basically rest and intravenous liquids.  The rest includes total rest for the GI system, not even water by mouth. The standard treatment is high dosages of liquids to assist the system with its self-cleansing.   Unfortunately, Mike is also had chronic kidney disease and is on dialysis.  The general idea is that more liquid is put in from an external source, and the kidneys deal with ridding the body of the access liquid.  Since Mike's kidneys can't do that, the healing process is complicated. 
            A funny aside: I lost my room key to the hotel. We went to the counter to get a new one. I was looking at my phone while Damon dealt with the issue.  He said, "My mother and my step-mother are in that room." The next thing he said was," Yeah, I know." I assume the clerk gave him a look.  For those of you who don't know, Damon's mother and have learned to love each other and genuinely enjoy each other.  We both consider ourselves fortunate.  Even before this incident, she and her husband would come to visit us for several weeks at a time.
            I may write up more about myself in these updates. Someone encouraged me to do so I can remember all the incidents.  There are so many that are funny or positive with my interactions with Mike, those who have come to support me, other patients, and the staff here at the Kaiser hospital here in Honolulu.
            Ah, for those of you who don't understand why I need a place to stay: Mike and I live on the Big Island. We were flown into Honolulu, and we will remain here until he is ready to go home, which could easily be a month down the road.

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