How to Lose Two Weeks and Gain Your Life

Initial report

A week ago Thursday (January 3rd) Arnold came down with a bad cold/flu. He felt fine in the morning but really punk by the end of the day. He spent most of several days in bed and had a raging sore throat, a fever on several days, lots of phlegm to cough up, and ragged breathing. The other symptoms seemed to get a little better but the breathing difficulties became worse. Last night he got up several times during the night, tipped up the bed more, turned on the fan to try to get more air, and finally got up for the day about 5:20 a.m. I talked him into letting me take him to the doctor. We went to the doctor's office an hour early because his breathing was so labored. I figured it was better to have a medical emergency at the doctors office rather than at home. Chest x-rays indicated pneumonia so I took him to Kaiser Morse to the emergency room where they admitted him immediately. At the beginning of the day I thought they would give him a nebulizer treatment, he would be better and we would come home. In the emergency they did the treatments you typically do to open the airways, that helped a little but not much, they did a constant stream of oxygen so his blood gas was good but he was still extremely labored in his breathing. The administered epinephrine and that didn't do much. The finally had to take him into surgery to put a tube down his throat. Even that didn't go easy - the first one they did through his nose came dislodged so they ended up taking him back into surgery and gave him a tracheotomy. He is now in the intensive care unit at Kaiser Morse Ave. 

Much to the surprise of all who saw me go into the hospital two weeks ago, I have returned, suffering but not defeated, hurt but not mortally wounded. I was so beat-up in this latest tussle with Mother Nature, (or archangel Gabriel if you prefer) that I'm seriously going to cut back my activities. I'm just now determining the extent of my damages. The worst problem I had was an obstructed airway from swelling and inflammation. The blockage of this airway led to one or more incidents where I was literally dying from lack of oxygen. To allow me to breathe the doctors put a tracheostomy into my neck. I also had pneumonia in my lungs.

Several days I drifted into and out of audio and visual hallucinations and confusion. This was exacerbated by being unable to talk because of the trache. Family members and medical staff took turns (and risks) to reduce my self-injurious behaviors. Even while Carolyn was cajoling my doctor to let me come home a week ago, I was trying to look into the merits and methods of patient compliance systems, a trick (had I succeeded) that almost certainly would have lengthened my hospital time.

At this point, I am gaining my physical strength and plan to be the healthiest I’ve been for years. The trache has been removed and the hole in my throat is healing rapidly. My blood pressure and blood chemistry are in good balance. Indeed, MY biggest complaint is that everything I eat tastes so bland or “off”.

I try to get outside 30 to 40 minutes each day, I try to talk and use the computer an hour a day, and hope to stay involved in groups that I have participated in. At least initially, I'll volunteer for times when my failure to show up won't mess up other people’s schedule.

Many of you have written letters which are greatly appreciated.  I'll probably not respond as quickly as I used to but I will try to respond.

Arnold