Hiccup - Part 2

I wrote Hiccup – Part 1 between 2:00 and 2:30PM Saturday. The following is the rest of the day.

This morning after her walk Renee complained about a shortness of breath. The nurse took all her vital signs which looked good including oxygen. The O2 number was 93. They look for a 93-100 range.

A little after 3:00PM, Renee woke from a nap. She was talking to me then all of a sudden she swung her feet over the side of the bed and got up. I jumped up to help her. I noticed some blood so made her stop in her tracks and rung the nurse.

We got Renee back in the bed so they could check her out before she goes strolling. But the quick exit from the bed disoriented her. For a few minutes she didn’t know where she was. She said she was in the wrong room, this one was too small. The nurse’s assistant was there at the time. I said, “she’s delusional.” She went for the nurse. The nurse came in and Renee then said that she was at school and they were doing a butter experiment. I said to her “she’s hallucinating.” She went running for help. Before long we had two nurses, a doctor and the assistant at her side.

The doctor started questioning her. “What’s your name?” What’s the year?” Where are you?” They put the oxygen back on her. Renee answered all the questions correctly. She was back with us. The doc did a quick rectal exam, the source of the blood. The blood was just some discharge left over from surgery. Nothing to worry about, but the confusion, this made the doctor concerned. The nurses were working feverishly to find a vein in order to take some blood samples. They were not having much luck vein fishing as I called it. Renee was saying “That’s enough, give up already.” The doctor was still asking questions, “Where does it hurt?” Renee said her chest. She pointed to the spot. Tests were ordered, EKG, chest X-ray both performed bedside. The doctor kept getting beeped for other patient problems but wasn’t leaving. A portable workstation for the doctor was set up at the foot of the bed. Nurses were coming to the room to ask her questions about those other problems. She told me she was going to stick around for a while until she figured out what was going on.

The EKG looked OK to the doctor but she sent it off to a heart specialist to be sure. The heart specialist said it looked good also but was concerned about the lungs. He ordered a CT Scan to check for a clot in the lungs. He said the hiccups were an indicator.

They put Renee in a wheelchair, attached two IV pumps and four IV bags and an oxygen canister and grabbed her chart. We were almost out the door when they remembered to empty her colostomy bag before it blew up. Another false start when the nurse said she better change out the saline drip. Finally, with Renee’s head tilted to the side away from the pump units and almost doubled over with abdominal pain, we hustled to the basement where they hide the heavy equipment. Luckily the wait for the scan was short and she was in and out in under fifteen minutes. But now we had to wait for transport back upstairs.

Renee’s pain was increasing. She had just endured a blood letting, a fantasy trip back to school, hours of poking, prodding and inquisition. In all of the excitement they had forgotten about her pain meds. I asked the CT Scan operator if transport was coming. He took a look at Renee, grabbed her chart and pushed her down the hall to X-ray, an unscheduled stop. Nobody had told us about another X-Ray but he showed me. It was written in big bold letters on the front of her chart. Another quick batch of photos and Renee was back with me waiting again for transport.

Renee could not tolerate the pain any longer, she was moaning. I went to the desk and inquired about transport. She called and checked. They’ll get here as soon as someone is freed up, she said. I asked if I could just wheel her back up but this is not allowed. I guess the moaning got to her because she came out of her office and pushed Renee back to her room. That’s two employees who left their stations to help out a patient. We were very thankful and said so.

The night nurse who had just come on and I got Renee re-situated in bed after detangling the IV hoses. When the nurse finally brought the pain medication she said, hey, it’s been a while since you had this. No kidding, really?

Another doctor came in a very short while later and said the CT Scan was negative for clots in the lungs and that the heart also looks good. He was recommending another CT Scan for the stomach and bowels because they only did the chest area. He said that Renee’s stomach was distended. He went to consult with another higher level physician first.

A few minutes later a nurse and an assistant came in with a big pitcher and hoses which they started putting together. They told us the doctor ordered the insertion of a nose tube to extract the fluids from the stomach. They explained what was going on to Renee and then asked me to leave while they installed the apparatus.

I returned after they were finished and Renee had already filled one pitcher and they were coming to empty the second. About fifteen minutes later the two doctors came in and said they may still order the other CT Scan. The problems they think stems from Renee’s bladder and bowels which are still in sleep mode from the surgery. It’s backing everything up into the stomach. They think the tube has alleviated the problem but it looks like more testing will be needed to ensure there is not a blockage. They asked Renee if she was feeling better and she said yes. They said you could see it in her face. You could. With this episode finally under control they left. Tomorrow we find out if it is just sleepy organs or an obstruction.

At about 10:30PM, while Renee was dozing, I snuck off to the pantry for a quick bite. When I returned she seemed to be resting peacefully, or as peacefully as one can with tubes stuck in both ends and a big slice up the middle. It was lights out and Renee stirred, so I said my good nights and hit the snow slicked streets of Cleveland.