03Jan
The holiday break is over and we start off the new year with a day of regular tests - ECHO, PFTs, (where we find Carman’s lung function is holding in the 30’s - at 34% today) then on to Physio in the Treadmill Room. That should be easy...Carman practiced just yesterday!
Our ECHO is scheduled for 9:30, so last night I asked Carman what time he thought he’d like to get up today. He suggested 8:30, so I reminded him that we should be checking in for the ECHO at 9:15. That would mean we’d have to leave our condo door no later than 8:40 if he wanted to me park the car and have any chance of joining him before he went in, otherwise Paula would go in with him and I’d join them as quickly as I could after finding parking, then hiking back to the hospital and navigating the maze of hallways to the ECHO lab. After re-thinking the odds, he suggested 8:15. I reminded him that we should have eaten breakfast and gotten dressed (it is winter after all) before we left our door too. Paula and I might eat and run within that 25 minute window, but he didn’t stand a chance.
To get up, get dressed, brush his teeth and recover his breath to do the next thing would take at least 25-30 minutes and eating is a slow process as you struggle to balance chewing and breathing with not feeling hungry in the first place. After much groaning and gnashing of teeth, we compromised on an 8:00 wake-up, with a plan for toast & jam followed by a take along smoothie for breakfast.
With all this pre-event strategizing in place, we left the condo right on time at 8:50...
I dropped Carman & Paula at the hospital entrance and proceeded to LuCliff Place immediately - there was no possible way that I’d get the block circled looking for curb-side parking and get to the ECHO lab in 5 minutes, so I opted for the parking garage. By the time I got to reception, he was already in for his test! They had 3 cancellation calls that morning (we had a dusting of snow, so the roads were...) so took him right away. We were done and on our way upstairs to the PFT lab by 9:22 - our fastest 9:30 appointment yet!
We decided to check in early on the chance that there had been cancellations there as well. The receptionist suggested we take a seat and she’d see what she could do for us, since our appointment wasn’t until 11:30. Carman decided to take advantage of the wait...
While his bright shoes kept everyone else wide awak, he grabbed a couple of winks. His nap was short lived, the technician came out within 10 minutes and off we went...and were done by 10:09. We now had lots of time to grab some lunch in the food court (we are after all, trying to spoil Paula with gastronomic delights) before our Treadmill time.
While they were at physio, I visited with Jess, and then they join us when they completed Carman’s program. Paula noted that it went well, but Carman is tired - too many days off will take a toll on the energy resources, not to mention the level of breathlessness increases. Add to that, the early start to the day, followed by just waiting around - and he’s pooped!
Jess notices how tired he is and insists he use her bed while she sits in the chair - something she was about to do anyway. She heads to the bathroom while he gets settled, and right then Dr. T arrives to check on Jess. He takes a look around the room, does a double take when he spies Carman on the bed and without skipping a beat he says, “Wow Jess those meds we’ve prescribed, are really messing with you!” (it may have been the Bruins cap that threw him).
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| Carman & Paula |
Right on cue, Jess pokes her head out of the bathroom door and says, “No, that’s not me, I’m here!” and Carman says “I’m just practicing and it’s going so well I’m ready for my new lungs now!” Dr. T says he’d be glad to take care of that but alas, didn’t have a match yet, then he tells us how please the team is with Jess’ recovery - she is well on track with what they expect, if not, a little bit ahead of schedule. This is great news!
But...there is still the issue of fluid to drain and today’s x-ray shows the right lung isn’t as fully expanded as he’d like it to be. We were hoping she might be able to go home today - but we want everything just right before that happens. While we are all disappointed, Jess is fine with this and is more than willing to do the time until all is A-1.
At that, we head home to have some dinner and get Carman and Paula a proper nap!
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| The Be A Donor poster in the Treadmill Room hallway |
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