Bad Day Turns Out Good

Well Neil is still in the hospital but he is on the mend.  Been 2 weeks now, everyone panics cause its been so long but I would rather him there healing than home sick.

On Friday I rode up with him in the back of an ambulance to Red Deer so they could drain what they thought was a pus pocket.  We got there and they wouldn't let me watch :(  something about using x-rays and ct scans to find it.  But anyways it wasn't pus just a separate pocket of fluid, the same stuff they drained out on last Monday.  They also gave him 2 units of blood on Thursday and that and removing this pocket seemed to make a huge difference.  They left a drain in so it would completely drain out,  and so another attachment, what a pain.  But so far so good hes feeling a lot better, even got bored in there, but hes still weak.  On Thursday there was quite some excitement at 10:30 at night they thought he was showing signs of tuberculosis and so they rushed him into another room and all his furniture and the other guy in his room and did a major disinfecting.  Then they put a sign on his door saying airborne disease must wear mask, gown and gloves in the room.  And he was swelling up so they gave him a water pill to pee every 10 minutes, what a nuisance, he said he didn't get much sleep that night.

But it was a false alarm and everything is back to normal, hes still in a private room and he will be in there until his drain isn't draining anymore and the doctor is sure he wont come back.  He really wanted to get out tomorrow for his birthday but it doesn't sound like its gonna happen.  He even walked all the way to the x-ray and back this morning but was really tired afterwards.  I am glad they are gonna keep him till hes stronger less work for me to take care of him too.

Its been going well here, except this morning I lost a calf in the heifers that maybe coulda been saved if I was more invasive.  I find I would rather wait and let them do it without interfering if at all possible, but in this case I shoulda helped her sooner, but whats done is done I cant fix t now, too bad cause she was such a nice quiet cow but she didn't even turn around to look at her calf, she just walked away from it after we pulled it.  I tried to put one of the twins with her but he just kept climbing through the fence away from her so after about 3 times I gave up on that and just turned her out.  Was a pretty rotten morning, had me wondering if everything was going wrong.  But then had a nap after lunch and rode through the cows and I felt much better.  I am always nervous riding through the cows cause Neil always says they are wild and scared of a horse and I just don't do it very often, so easy to just grab Bob and drive, but I guess it wont get easier/more normal for me unless I do it.  And it was nice, only took about an hour and I didn't even need to wear a coat.  And I saw a calf being born, so all is alright in my world again.

 Although I do want it back to normal again, I don't like this.  It wouldn't be so bad if I never had to spend 4 hours to go see Neil everyday but still would rather it be like it was before.  Although I know when he gets home he will still need help and be weak, they said not 100% till June :(  That seems so long away.  Although as much as I complain I would rather do this than be the one in the hospital.  I think the hardest part is its hard for anyone to understand unless they have gone through this, and the worst of it is we have no family around to help besides Neils dad who has been coming up every couple days to help out.  But seems like everyone else has tones of family around and here I am all alone.

Sick Husband

Last week Neil had a cold, and it wasn't that bad, and then it got worse, he thought it turned into the flu, so he laid around for a couple days and then he asked me to take him to the hospital, I was a little surprised he seemed wimpy but I thought all men are when they are sick.  So we went in to emergency and the triage nurse looked at him and asked all kinds of questions then they send you back to waiting room to wait for doctor.  About 5 minutes later the doctor saw him and said its not the flu its pneumonia.  And the said they wanted to start him on iv antibiotics for a few days and since we live so far from the hospital they would like to keep him in.  He agreed cause it was a pretty awful drive for him.  So we got there at 8 and by 11:30 he was in a room and they even brought him lunch at noon, pretty organized I was surprised.  He didn't eat it of course but it was there.  That was last Tuesday the first.  I left and went home to check heifers and bring him some clothes cause he was wearing his jeans and no one wants to sleep in jeans in the hospital.  So I brought him some stuff and he was feeling pretty bad, slept in the chair so he could stay upright and not cough.

The next day he made it into the bed but had it sitting all the way up and he was a lot more cheerful but still not great.  kept getting a little better everyday.  Then Sunday he woke up and said hard to breathe so they put him on oxygen which he never needed before cause they kept testing blood oxygen levels and they were good.  Also gave him a couple puffers to open his lungs.  Worked for a while then Monday they figured should drain some fluid around his left lung, the right side was all cleared up and so they took a bunch out and he said wasn't bad but didn't seem to make a lot of difference.  Took a CT scan today and no cancer but might send him to a specialist cause they are thinking there is maybe a blockage of some sort stopping him from healing.

I also think its taking longer cause he is probly going through withdrawal symptoms from not smoking for a week, he says he doesn't miss it but the its still hard on the system.  He asked his doctor for something to quit and he wont give him something unless he starts missing it cause no need to introduce more nicotine if unnecessary.  I hope he quits, would be an ideal time.

Meanwhile I am here taking care of things on the farm, not too bad, we have heifers and cows calving so far no problems and I think only 13 heifers left out of 33, I haven't worried too much about cows, still feeding a little so they all bunch up and then I can go look at the ones who don't come up.  Got about 19 out there, they are so funny even when i don't want to they make me smile.

The worst part is we had to cancel our trip to Texas which doesn't bother me cause he's sick but I really wanted to go.  But I guess there is always next year.  He will still need care when he gets home but I am hoping they keep him till hes pretty good.  Seems like a long time to be in the hospital nowadays but they seem in no rush and they hospital is not full so its good.  I sure have a better appreciation for nurses and am glad I am not one I dont think anyone would like me after a while.