DETOUR -- BRIDGE OUT -- SLOW TO 60

 Our road trip that started on June 26th continues, taking us on a strange and unexpected journey.  As you may remember, we started out with the intention of reaching Birmingham for Kitty's 30-day follow-up from her heart valve replacement.  Instead we ended up in the emergency room in out local hospital when Kitty pulled a Mrs. Fletcher and fell and could not get up.  Her breathing was terrible and her cognitive behavior was almost as bad.  She had a lot of fluid build-up -- something that can happen after a valve replacement -- and they concentrated on getting rid of the build-up.  Then she was transferred to a rehab facility to build up her strength.  After two weeks of this, she was still breathing with great difficulty and was basically too weak to engage in the physical therapy.  

(The rehab facility had no facilities for me to stay with her so I ended up sleeping on the hard floor for first night.  They took pity on me then and found the world's thinnest and most uncomfortable mattress for me to sleep on -- they never though of having a spare cot on hand.  Try getting up from the floor when you have 75-year-old bones and an historically bad back.  Luckily, she only needed me to get up and help her with something about every 90 minutes from 11 pm to 5 am.  With all that practice, I can now get up from the floor under 3 minutes -- agility thy name is Jerry!)

Previously all we had to worry about were her heart (seems okay now), her lungs (despite the breathing problem, her lungs seemed much better), and her anemia (which had stabilized).  The head doctor at the rehab place decided to become very concerned about her kidneys -- her blood count indicated a possible problem but this could be explained by her fluid build-up -- each doctor, it seems, has his or her bete noir, some specialty they had specifically trained for and they will find hints of it wherever they look.  This is not to say there is no problems with her kidneys, just that when you smell smoke, it may be a barbeque and not a forest fire.  Also, they found a "little bit" of pneumonia; that quantifying phrase confused me -- sort of like saying someone was "partially pregnant."  And...naturally, her breathing was getting worse.

Long story short, it was back to the hospital, this time a much bigger one in Pensacola.  It took only eight hours to get her admitted to a room and only six before I was allowed to see her.  Joy of all joys, this hospital was actually able to find a cot for me to sleep on -- although it was a fold-up cot that sagged in the middle just where my back did not want or need to sag.  **sigh**

Kitty's breathing problems were basically due the fluid build-up.  They removed over four liters of fluid from her belly the first day.  All this fluid had been pressing against he diaphragm, making it difficult to breath.  Over the next five days, they removed a lot more fluid.  (Yay!)  Remember what I said about each doctor and their personal bete noirs?   Well the doctor there had a thing about livers.  Imaging showed some ort of build-up on her liver that may be cirrhosis, or -- hold on to your hat -- something that may be explained by the excess fluid build-up.  (Please note that my bride does not drink -- or smoke, for that matter; her only bad habit is me.)  Did I mention that her spleen "seems" to be enlarged, and that she does have pneumonia?  As for her liver, they suggested a follow-up ultrasound in a couple of months, followed by a biopsy if needed.

Anyway, the fluid build-up has been significantly reduced and her breathing is better, so the hospital decided to kick up out.  We are back at the rehab center.  The same one.  The same room. They even kept the mattress in the room so I can sleep on the floor.  (Joy.)

And we will see what happens.

There may or may not be many terrible things happening with Kitty.  Or it may all be caused by the fluid build-up that can follow a heart valve replacement.  Time will tell.  For now I'm going to concentrate on having her eat properly (her appetite had dropped to zero over the past few weeks) and having her follow the physical therapy religiously.  The sooner we are able to get her out of here (and me off the floor) and back home, the better.

The one major concern I have is her cognition.  According to whatever test they gave her here at the rehab when they admitted her she tests borderline for dementia.  Considering all that she has gone through over the past few months and all the various medications they have put her on, I think some confusion is in order, especially if her lungs have been not supplying the proper amount of oxygen to her brain.   I find it hard to believe that dementia can pop up overnight like this.  Time will tell, I guess.  In the meantime, our strongest weapons are faith and hope and the absolute knowledge of her strength.

I'll probably be posting more later as our odyssey continues.