Pneumonia Part 2

I wanted to update everyone on the current situation.

First, Michele is feeling better now, and we are making the turn on this episode. Today she was able to go to the observation deck on a walk. Two days ago, she was so winded just going to the bathroom ten feet away. Even before that when she was able to make a short round on the floor, it made me nervous that she could collapse at any moment.

To go to the observation deck, she needed to make it to the elevator which is about fifty yards from the room. Then take an elevator up to the twenty-second floor and take another elevator up. This is profoundly good news for sure.

Monday night

Monday, we had a full day of procedures. The last procedure was the bronchoscopy and she had been sedated for that. When she finally made it back to the room she was confused, mumbling, and unsure of where she was. I wanted to spend the night with her to make sure she was able to rest and move around the room.

It was scary at times. I would wake up and hear her breathing along with a low “watery” rattle. I kept her head elevated most of the night and slept in the “recliner” next to the bed. She was not going to get up without me knowing.

She slept well otherwise that night. There were no “vivid dreams” like we had over the weekend. The vivid dreams had us both exhausted. In these dreams, every single one of you visited her and talked to her. She held conference calls and sales presentations. The good news is that her mind was trying to be normal. AND. When she opened her eyes, she knew that it was not real.

Linda the Angel

Linda has a direct connection with God and together they know exactly when Linda needs to show up. She arrived Monday afternoon and got to experience the post procedure confusion. She had a hotel room for the night nearby and that allowed her to have a restful night in before taking over.

When we traded out Tuesday morning, I was hopeful for progress and worried it would take longer. I think her days as a teacher kick in and gets Michele in line to a program for healing. Tuesday, Michele sat up more in the chair, and did more walks. Linda’s angelic touch always seems to pick up Michele’s spirits.

Thank you for always being on standby.

More on the last week.

Most of last week was drawing blood, waiting for cultures to grow, and blasting her with antibiotics. It is still not clear what exactly she has in her lungs. There are various sources for pneumonia. After the cultures coming back negative, the team felt it was likely that this was a fungal pneumonia called pneumocystis. The treatment for this variant is a medicine called Bactrim.

Her fever started to fade after a couple of days on Bactrim. She had her third blood transfusion today. Her body is still fighting this thing. We did two CT scans and the second one on Monday showed that the lungs were getting worse than the scan on last Wednesday. Not out of the woods is what we will call it.

Today

I am happy to report that our youngest son Christopher has been with her today and she is doing much better. I know she still loves me as a care giver 8-). The variety helps break the trance that staring at each other can invoke.

Christopher and Michele

Michele is always talking about the nurses and making sure she knows their names. It is funny sometimes when she thinks she remembers a nurse from a previous visit or the clinic. I knew she was starting to feel better when she was wanting to have our staff meeting today.

The doctors should have some first insights tomorrow from the cultures of material they took from her lungs on Monday. We are told that they may confirm the diagnosis or could be negative. Either way, what we are seeing with her breaking the fever and getting better is that she could be home as soon as the end of the weekend.

More time to heal

It will take four to six weeks to heal more completely. This infection is called an opportunistic infection. It takes advantage of low immune system and is affected by steroids. It found its way into her lungs on its own. We don’t believe it was something that she got from anyone.

Additional Prayers needed.

This last weekend, another friend was rushed to the medical center with an aortic aneurysm dissecting. This is something that is extremely dangerous. After three surgeries, they believe that the repairs will fix the issue. However, it is a major surgery, and he has been sedated and remaining in ICU since the surgery. We also found out that he has pneumonia in one of his lungs as well.

Please keep Michael in your prayers for a full and successful recovery. We have much more travel to do in the future and we need his humor with us and our crew.

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