blood clot or pneumonia?

It all started last night when John was telling me how much pain he was in.  And his fever was climbing.  At first I didn't realize how bad it was.  I thought his side was only hurting because he was shivering so bad (his fever was about 100 at the time, but he usually runs 97 degrees).  So I told John if we could do something about his fever his side would stop hurting.  Maybe if we got some Tylenol down or something.  It didn't work, within one hour he was 101.3.  That's when I told him I was calling Hershey.  Hershey Medical Center is a fine hospital, but they ask stem cell transplant patients to wait till their fever reaches 100.4 degrees before they call and ask if they should be admitted.  And some of the doctors there make you wait till 101 degrees.  So I waited for John to reach 101 degrees, called, and was told "bring him in".

This was pretty early in the morning.  I don't drive much because of narcolepsy ( I am guessing that is what it is, I haven't been able to have it checked yet) so I began calling around to see who might take John and me to the hospital.  At this point John is screaming in pain every few seconds.  He may kill me for telling you all that because he is a pretty tough guy.  Finally he tells me he can't take it any longer and to call an ambulance.

So I called an ambulance.  They loaded him into the back and I got in the front passenger's seat .  It was horrible.  He kept repeating over and over, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."  I didn't know what they were doing to him back there, but he told me later that they were just checking his blood pressure, etc.  And that the more he couldn't take was the pain in his side.

The ambulance took us to the nearest hospital.  They wouldn't take John to Hershey because they have to take you to a local hospital, which stablizes you, and a doctor from there writes the orders to take you to the next hospital.  So at our local hospital they took some X-Rays.  And on John's right side where his lungs are thedoctor saw a "haze".  They told John he either has pneumonia or a blood clot in his lungs.  At this point orders were signed and he was wisked away to the hospital in Hershey, where he is right now.

Oh, wow, I am pretty nervous about everything.  The doctors at Hershey Medical Center talked with me today (yes, I am up here with John.  I am staying with John at the hospital during the daytime, and at Hope Lodge nights).  They said his condition is serious, and they are not letting him eat or drink anything.  I can't imagine not even being allowed to have a sip of water!  They told me they are leaning towards believing it is a blood clot.  Right now John is on saline for fluids, heparin in case it is a blood clot (this can help clots reabsorb), and zithromax (an antibiotic).  They also told me they were going to give him blood tonight.  This really scared me because his Hgb and his HCT are soooo low and he just got blood on Wednesday.  Wow that was only four days ago.  I am glad he is not back local, because it would take them days to try to find a match for his blood.  Last two times it took two or three days.  But that is another story.

Okay, so I am rambling as usual.  I left the hospital tonight feeling horrible.  I didn't want to leave him but he said "go".  I had to take my medicine so I came back here to Hope Lodge.  My car is not here so I can't go back to the hospital and spend the night with him (I have no ride).  Believe or not there are no taxis in Hershey, LOLOLOLOL.  It is just a tourist town mostly, so people don't do taxis.  So I told him that if I went to the Lodge, and he died on me tonight, after all of this, I would be VERY upset with him.  I told him I didn't want to leave, and asked him if he was sure, and he said, "I have a good feeling about this, I won't die tonight, so go, get a good night's rest."  So I left.  And that brings me till now.  I hope this last paragraph wasn't a little to real for you.  And it may seem to have levity in it, but I was very upset when I left the hospital.  But when I came back here to the Lodge I had others who did their best to cheer me up.  Some I knew and some I didn't.  It is so good when you have others who are there for you.  They helped pull me through my fear and funk.  So tomorrow I will be back at the hospital spending time with John again.  

Okay, enough rambling.  I hope some time soon I will have something boring to right about.  And please, if you are the praying type, pray for John.  I am having a feeling this could be a rough one this time.

All my love,  Krissy