All Day at the Hospital: Day One

DH has been having trouble breathing for about six weeks. He had a cold or sinus infection, and hasn't been able to shake it. He had asthma as a child, and recurring bouts of it all along. He has been taking Primatene, and using an inhaler on a regular basis, but it hasn't gotten better. He started out for his Sunday School class (with teenagers at a local drug & alcohol treatment facility), but couldn't walk from his car to the building. He turned around to come back home, but couldn't drive all the way (about four miles). His friend that teaches with him called to tell me that DH was on his way back home, then DH called to say he couldn't get any farther than our church parking lot (less than a mile from home). I pulled on my clothes, locked up the house, made a few phone calls, and headed out to get him. When I got there and put him into his car (he was standing outside the car in the rain because he could only breathe while standing up), he got worse and we had to dial 911 for help. The fire station is only about two blocks from the church, so the fire truck was there just after I hung up, with the paramedic truck and ambulance not too far behind. I stood next to DH with the umbrella over him while they gave him oxygen and a breathing treatment.

They put him into the ambulance and I took his car back to our house. My sister, who lives about half a block from us, met me at our house and took me back to my car. I headed for the hospital; DH's brother was also on his way (he works at that hospital) from his house. By the time they gave him another breathing treatment (at the hospital) and had him on oxygen for a little while, his breathing was easy and his oxygen level was back up to an acceptable level. During the course of bloodwork, etc., they discovered a problem with his kidneys that concerns the doctors about as much as his lungs. He has had trouble with dehydration for several years, probably because of the great quantities of caffeine that he ingests during the course of a day (in addition to the cigarettes that are the root of the breathing problems). They have admitted him, and he'll be there three or four days for tests and to get fluids into him.

I came home around 5:00 p.m. to check on the dog and the house. DH had found the Colts/Patriots game and was rooting for the Colts. He'd had dinner (and was so hungry that he thought the hospital food was great), and had not had a cigarette or a Mountain Dew since around 7:15 this morning. I had no desire to be around him during the first stages of nicotine and caffeine withdrawal, and I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow. I called my principal and she got a substitute for Monday and Tuesday, and we'll go from there. I'm hoping he'll come home Tuesday afternoon so that I can go back to work Wednesday.

The dog is missing him. She loves me, but she spends most of everyday with DH and can't understand why I'm here and he's not. DH asked his nurse if the dog could come to see him, and she said no...