Fall and the Rosh Hashanah Moon
One more trip to the E.R. Well, after a no-good, pretty bad Monday, described below, we got home around 6 pm. Both tired. Both hoping things would just magically get better.
They didn’t. When Kate went to bed, the feeding tube that is her main source of nourishment popped out. The nurse at the E.R. said, “It happens.” Kate, being Kate, inserted a #16 Foley into the ostomy, the hole in her gut, and inflated its small balloon with ten ml of water. The Foley plugged the hole, but didn’t serve well for her nighttime feeding.
Kate said this day sucked. Yes, indeed it did.
She had to have a new feeding tube, right away, because that’s how she gets the bulk of her nutrition and calories. Our primary care folks said, “Call the surgeon.” She did. Ed Smith, a solo practitioner, no spring chicken himself, was out getting a total knee replacement.
The E.R. was the next best place. So down the hill we went. New feeding tube number 1, but following up with them on the shortness of breath, number 2.
Dr. Stader, a helluva nice guy, took over. What is that? A 16? Yes. Kate had handed him the defenestrated feeding tube. The feeding tube and the Foley both have a small balloon attached to the end of the tube. It’s inflated by using a syringe to push water into it. See pic. The yellow capped port is where the water goes in.
Getting the new tube in was easy. They had to inflate it a bit more after the first try, but it worked fine last night. Yes, in a first, our fourth trip to the E.R. did not result in a hospitalization.
Kate also gave Don, Dr. Stader, a cd of her c.t. from Monday late afternoon. It had not been read. Don and the E.R. radiologist reviewed it and found no sign of a pneumothorax. Kate had feared that her shortness of breath was a second one, the first one happened back in May or June.
They did find abnormalities, interstitial lung disease, but no obvious reason for a sudden increase in, as they say in the E.R. notes, SOB. We checked out, went to the car, and drove back up the hill. She’ll followup with both her pulmonologist and Dr. Gidday.
This is getting old we both remarked while she was on the hospital bed in Swedish E.R. room #20. But, so are we.
