Hospitalized in San Juan

Tell me that the usual causes of profuse sweating do not seem to be the culprits. Tell me you don’t know why my husband is sweating so much his gown is wringing wet, why his body is outlined with a sweat ring on the bed and his pillow, but DON’T tell me it’s because he was too covered up by his blanket that he’s wet with sweat. Everybody knows that if you get too warm under covers you kick a foot out or your arms and you cool off. No way you lie there sweating like a hog, and this is normal.  

At my insistence the intern came in to look at him. Ok, whatever caused the profuse sweating seems to be over, that I can accept, but now clean him up and change his linens.

The floor nurses are kind, loving people, who usually do a good job. I hate to be bitchy, but this is my one and only husband. So today if he wants a shave and his teeth brushed it’s up to me. After his bed bath, the nurse handed me his bowl and a couple of towels. I wonder what they do if the patient doesn’t have family present to his tidying them up?

The femoral bypass surgery done on Friday has failed. The doctors are planning to remove a toe this coming Friday. Hmm, yes the fifth toe that was pink when he came in two weeks ago is black as a lump of coal. The fourth toe, the one that was blue is the same. Don’t know if that’s good or shades of things to come.

Any day of the week great things happen in a hospital, but the same can be said for bad things. If they don’t do a graft revision, the prognosis is not good for his leg. It’s worrisome when I hear from the residents that the man made material used in the bypass grafts doesn’t work well, so they don’t want to use it. The literature I’ve read gives a better outlook than what I hear from these docs, so I have concerns.