There's Patches & There's Patches

Weekend

pretty uneventful, starting to get into a routine, up at 6am do his catheter, lie down for another 20mins, up roll up bedding, put mattress into vacuum pack bag roll out the air. Get a wash or shower, ready for another day. Saturday got out to ASDA in the afternoon, bought a really cheap DVD player as the ones on the provided TV's are not working and some food for myself for the week.

Monday 2nd July

Lots to do on this day. Try to co-ordinate everything with the busy nursing team, we manage it, sort of, but a bit manic. 2 lots of IV antibiotics, bowel emptying, vacuum dressing change, sounds easy when you say it quick. Every item takes time and can not be done at the same time. The Etrapenem Antibiotic takes 1/2 hour, the [x-]mycin one takes nearly an hour, bowels 2 hours, vac dressing 1/2 hour, then there's lunch and dinner, as you can see the whole afternoon is shot. Well we get Hubby settled after all that poor dude is knackered. Then just before 6pm the drug run, brought us a bit of a laugh. They tried to prescribe Nicotine Patches instead of his pain patches. Very funny since Hubby has never smoked and was a keen sportsman before his illness. We could have been upset by this but you have to keep a sense of humour about these things.

Yesterday.

Got up as usual. Get Hubby his breakfast, look out of the window and see a beautiful little beasty.

A little dear, thought it was a goat at first but no it really is an urban dear. Yesterday was quite busy, doctors rounds and met up with Hubby's OT again. Hoping to mobilise him in a wheelchair with pump attached. Any way we will see. Have a bit of do with cleaner he has a thick heavy cold, coughing and sneezing and then wondered why I didn't want him anywhere near Hubby.

Emergency Fetch the Doctor - Autonomic Dysreflexia

Yesterday, Monday we were expecting a quieter day following a fairly full day on Sunday. All went well until half an hour after Hubby was given a new type of antibiotic, all hell broke out.


I'm sat there having an afternoon doze and all of a sudden Hubby goes into a massive upper body set of spasms, shouts out in pain. They were so bad he thought he had damaged his left arm. I knew it was serious so get the nursing staff involved, who try and take his blood pressure but cant because of the spasms in his arms and chest. They end up attaching the cuff to his leg to get a reading. 


Oh shit it was up to 250/90 Autonomic Dysreflexia was surely indicated, a medical emergency. Doctors were called. We have the GTN spray but decide to hold off using as it can cause as many problems as it solves, diving blood pressure onto the floor. Myself and the nursing staff go through the procedure of making sure there isn't another pain source that is the reason for the attack, I empty his bladder just in case. Always seems like an age when you are waiting for someone to come that can do something positive. Hubby's throat was beginning  to close up, pains in his chest, his head felt like it would explode, feeling nauseated, frightened, shouting out every time a wave of spasms hit. 


Eventually the Doctors arrive, give him something for the pain, some anti histamine, oxygen, paracetamol drip. After about an hour his blood pressure comes back down to more normal levels and the more serious possibilities of bad outcomes lessen. Stroke, Cardiac Arrest etc.  They take some arterial blood  from his groin, it is quite difficult to locate and take. 


Diagnosis:  Anaphylaxic shock from taking the anti-biotic which brought on Autonomic Dysreflexia. 


He is okay now as I write although totally wiped out by the bad experience. The staff on the whole were great, I think it was a bit of a wake up call though, as it re-enforced the importance of not leaving Hubby on his own, and justified me being here. He might not have been able to push the call button had he been on his own. 


Well done RNOH staff.