Saturday, August 7, 2010 — Still some questions —

I arrived this morning to find Skip using nasal oxygen. Earlier he had begun to feel seriously out of breath. His lungs still looked good and his numbers looked ok. So they gave him oxygen and began puzzling over which medicines might work for the situation. The cardiologist wanted to use one but the hospitalist was worried about what that might do to his kidneys. I'm not absolutely sure what doses of which meds he finally received. His ankles and feet have also become swolen so that also had to be addressed with diuretics.

By noon things seemed to have leveled off and Skip began to enjoy reading his Kindle. — "Dog On It." — About that time Chuck and Leah arrived and had a good visit before lunch arrived and the nurses had to attend to the patient for a while. So the three of us drove down to a favorite bakery and sandwich cafe. We are certainly learning to enjoy some of the eateries in the neighborhood of the Sutter Medical Center.

Soon after we returned to Skip's room the Giant's game began and soon after that Steve, Susan and Mira showed up. They had hit unexplained traffic and it took them over two hours to travel here from the San Rafael bridge. We were all busy through the next hour saying our goodbyes to Leah who will be leaving Monday for England for a five month stay and some travel as well as work in her cousins' cafe on the coast. It should be a wonderful time for her but it wasn't much time for the two cousins to to visit before going their separate ways again. Maybe Leah will be able to visit Mira in Italy during the winter. Bottom line is that it made Skip's eyes light up seeing these two granddaughters having such a good visit. In the midst of the earlier time with Leah and Chuck we were also visited by five tiny service dogs. Three of them were put right up on Skip's lap. Those of you who know how much he cares for his own dogs can understand what joy that brought him.

A call from Kathy in the early afternoon passed on the content of a conversation she had with our friends Tom and Kat (cardiologist and nurse) at Echo. She relayed to us that they wanted to know for sure that the hospital was going to check for for clots, given his symptoms. At that moment the technician arrived with the portable scanner to do just that. It did make us feel reassured to get that message from the Fashinells and have it actually happening within minutes. As far as we know, nothing serious was found but we await a more thorough rundown of the results of the sonogram.

Good stuff: Skip used the walker and made his way into the hall several times. He ate his dinner while sitting on a normal chair. He calls for the commode more often now and is able to achieve the standup and sitting in a better fashion each time. The physical therapist worked with Skip's legs and had him lifting each leg on his own ten times. That hurts but he does it and I'm sure he becomes stronger each time as a result of that exercise.

Of course the going to the coast schedule is still hanging in the air because of the questions posed today by the breathlessness and the swelling. I know how much Skip is looking forward to being able to visit with many of you when he is ensconced at Sherwood Oaks. But it's really important that these lingering questions get answered before he leaves the Sutter Center. Hold good thoughts for that to happen. Love to you all for sending such heartfelt good vibes. It works and there's no way to tell you how grateful we are. P.S. Can't wait to show Skip the boule pictures and narrative from last week. It just keeps getting better (worse?)