Two Steps Back ....

Greetings Everyone!

I've not posted for the past couple of days because Ernie had two set-backs. 

The first occurred when his physical therapist was here - her standard procedure is to take Ernie's vital signs before starting his exercises. One vital sign - is Ernie's intake of oxygen. After she - Sondra completed Ernie's vitals - she started with all the bed exercise Ernie needs to do in order to achieve flexibility and muscle tone.

From there she had Ernie sit up, get out of bed and walk with his walker.  At that point Sondra and I noted how hard Ernie was breathing - almost gasping for breaths.  So she put Ernie back into bed and took his vital signs.  His heart rate and blood pressure were way up - and his oxygen level was very low.

Sondra called Ernie's doctor and left a message - and told me to keep an eye on him after she left. Later, we received a call back from the doctor - instructing Ernie to go to the emergency room.  So Ernie and I got him up and managed to get him down 24 stairs, into the little truck and to the hospital.

At the hospital Ernie was hooked-up to a heart monitor and put on oxygen.  The ER doctor was concerned that Ernie had a blood clot or was developing a heart problem.  So a number of test were administered - Cat Scan, EKG, chest x-ray and blood draws. 

The end results - NO blood clots or heart problems!  However, the blood test showed Ernie was low on iron (anemic) - a result of blood loss from surgery.  Subsequently, his blood was not efficiently carrying oxygen through his system - thus, the labored breathing.  Ernie was told to continue taking the iron pills prescribed by his doctor and given various breathing exercises to follow.

Ernie was discharged from the hospital - and we returned home - slowly climbing back up the 24 stairs.

The next morning - on Ernie's birthday (March 17th) Ernie was doing fine in the morning - BUT  later was 'hit' by severe pain in his left leg. His pain medicine and ice packs were not working! His knee began to swell and his pain escalated. 

We knew that he had to get him to the ER - again - but Ernie couldn't use his leg because of the swelling and the extreme pain. There was no possible way to get him down the stairs - so we call the fire department (911).

The paramedics showed up - and it took them 20 minutes and six men to get Ernie down the stairs - mainly because they had to be extremely cautious maneuvering the stair angles. Ernie arrived at the ER via ambulance --on his birthday.  Below - Ernie in the ER room - no cake and ice cream.



The one good thing about having gone to the ER the day before - was the same doctor and nurse were assigned to work with Ernie - and both were able to see the difference in Ernie's left knee right away. 

After assessing the situation - the doctor suspected 'blood pooling' around Ernie knee.  Blood pooling - from my understanding - is NOT a blood clot - a blood clot is located in a vein or artery and can travel within the body.  Blood pooling is blood seeping into an area and staying there - not uncommon after surgery.  In turn, the pooling blood causes the tissues to swell - and the body has to absorb the pooled blood on its own - then, the swelling will go down.
Below is Ernie's swollen knee.  The band-aid is covering an injection site - where the doctor inserted a needle to aspirate out blood - but got nothing.  This was one of the indicators used to confirm the pooling of blood on the joint.  If there was no pooling blood - then, Ernie would have a different problem. Blood samples were also taken for testing to see if Ernie could possibly have an infection.  Results won't be available until early next week - so we wait.

Finally - we returned home after 2:00 AM.  Although it was late, we humbly celebrated Ernie's birthday with two 'Skinny Cows' - a circular ice cream sandwich.

Take care everyone!