McBride Messages: The Hospital Stay

Last Wednesday I went to meet Jerry for lunch and he proceeded to tell me about his uncomfortable night (he worked the previous 24hrs) at work and how he didn't feel good and couldn't sleep and on top of it felt like he was having some shortness of breath and chest pain. There is an extensive history of heart disease in his family so I took him straight to the hospital instead of heading out to lunch. He had recently started seeing a cardiologist in Louisville. Two years ago he had some of the same symptons and had an ablation done by a Louisville heart surgeon....so, we headed straight to Jewish Hospital. Which this is the hospital to be at if you have any sort of heart and lung problems. By this time it's around 12:45 p.m.

Jewish Hospital - Rudd Heart and Lung Center

We got all checked in and we were only in the ER waiting room about 5 mins and they called us straight back. They immediately started running tests. An ER dr came in a Cardiologist was right in and a pulmonologist was all in to see us with a few hours. They drew blood and checked cardiac enzymens, blood levels, ddimer (checking for the indication of any blood clots) and lots of other things. All blood work came back good so far. The EKG and chest X ray were also done and the chest x-ray showed some slight pnuemonia and lots of thick mucus junk in his lungs. The dr's decided to admit him and run some more cardiac tests the following day on Thursday. Right before going upstairs they did a CT scan which was negative as well. By this time it's between 6 and 7 p.m. and we finally got to a room around 8ish.

This is what you do while sitting in a room in the ER. Play games on your BlackBerry and check email.

He was admitted to a huge, nice private room (good for a hospital), so I decided to stay so that I could be there in case something happened and to be right there when they started running tests on Thursday a.m. They were to run a stress test a few other tests as well. Thank goodness there was a Target about 5 miles away across the river, so I ran over there while they were getting Jerry settled in, and grabbed a few things to get us by for the night....pj's for us both, toothbrush, and something comfy to wear on Thursday... oh and some dinner because all they were serving at this point was plain turkey sandwiches....not to appetizing:) Chick - Fil-A was much more appealing.

The view of the Louisville lights from our hospital room on Wednesday night.

Finally settled in for the night. We finally got into a room around 8p.m. that night.

All through out the night the nurses drew blood, checked vitals and etc....

The view from our hospital room on Thursday morning. It was so sunny and beautiful to wake up to. Although we had been awakened many times that night with nurses in and out. You can see in the sky where the planes paths were. We watched numerous plans taking off into the sky. The interstate was right below as well and the traffic noise was very loud; especially at night:)

Our special visitors on Thursday night. So, glad we got to see them!!! We missed them so much!

On Thursday they had done the stress test. They had taken him down around 12:30p and then he returned to the room around 4p.m. My parents brought the kids up for a visit. Jerry had not seen them since Tuesday a.m. before leaving for work...so, it had been over 48hrs for him and over 24 hrs for me. The layed and watched cartoons with daddy for a bit, ate a snack and then it was time for them to head back home.

The cardiologist and the pulmonologist finally came in later that evening and felt like we should stay one more night for observation. The cardiologist didn't have the final report of the stress test yet, but felt like it was a good report and that it was more of an electrical issue (like two years ago) and the pulmonologists felt the same although, the junk in his lungs needed to be cleared up with some strong neb treatments, an inhaler and some breathing exercises.

On Friday a.m. they took him down for a lung functionality test and the report was good on it.

So, in conclusion, there was no heart attack and no stroke. It's an electrical rythym issue in his heart and it requires wearing a halter monitor for 30 days to record the irregularities and sent him home with an inhaler and some breathing exercises. Also, the pnueumonia should clear up with the inhaler and breathing exercises. Follow up with the pulmonologist in a few weeks and the cardiologist in 30 days to review the halter monitor results. Once they have these results they will decide the next step to be taken. So, to be continued.....

The "Git" well card the kids made for daddy.