Update #106

There are certain words that have a way of hitting you like a ton of bricks - pneumonia is one of them. It hit last night when I got to Drake after youth group. After all the coughing of the past few days, sometime yesterday afternoon, Dave spiked a fever of 102, and his breathing got extremely shallow - Amy, his night nurse, was the first to actually say the word. Taking into account the amount of time he has spent in bed and considering the injury to his diaphram, pneumonia is not unexpected, but it's still scary. So far, we are still waiting on official culture results, but the doctors started him on a round of antibiotics last night as a preemptive measure until the results come back.

In spite of the difficult Sunday (or perhaps because of it), Dave slept well last night, a blessing overall but especially in preparation for what has been a very long Monday. It started early with a trip in the ambulance to see Dr. Archdeacon, Dave's new orthopedic surgeon. After yet another round of X-rays, Dr. Archdeacon informed us that Dave's femur actually has shown some signs of healing and he does not (at least for the moment) need another surgery. Another appointment is scheduled for January 8th to reevaluate.

While visiting Dr. Archdeacon, Dave started to get another fever, and his oxygen level dropped to 87 (it should be at least 92). The paramedics put him on some oxygen to help increase the level, and immediately after returning to his room from the ambulance, Dave was carted away for his third chest X-ray in under a week. On the negative side, the X-ray does not indicate whether he has pneumonia or not. On the positive side, however, the congestion in his chest has not gotten any worse over the course of the last week.

The chest X-ray was followed by a visit from a pulmonary specialist who wrote orders for two things: the first, a spirometer (breathing test) to determine how much volume Dave is getting per breath; the second, another breathing treatment that actually vibrates the inside of his lungs to help break up some of the congestion (a treatment that he will get every four hours, day and night - I guess it's a blessing that Dave hasn't been sleeping through the night anyway). Hopefully, the new measures will help to treat whatever is causing the coughing and shortness of breath (pneumonia or otherwise).

The rest of the day was filled with the new breathing test, the new breathing treatment, and unfortunately, a lot more coughing. I'm sitting next to Dave now, and after a 45 minute coughing spell, he looks like he may be sleeping or at least relaxing for the first time since 6:00 a.m. Huge praise that the femur surger is not necessary for the moment and that the doctors have new ideas on how to treat Dave's lungs. Please be praying that the pneumonia culture will come back negative and that the new treatments will help to clear his breathing once and for all.