A LONG JOURNEY BACK PART 5

This time when he was discharged from Riverbend Hospital it was the middle of July and the doctor said Alan could not be in the heat any length of time. We had a 2 hour drive home and my air conditioning was broke in the car so I had to drive home and rent a car with air and drive back to get him. Of course from then on every trip to Eugene for doctors visits I had to rent a car because I did not have the $1500.00 it would cost to repair my air conditioner. This on top of the dog sitter fees became a big hardship but I had no choice, it had to be done.

The tube not being attached to a bag made it easier to change the dressing and to cover so Alan could shower. I was so used to Alan coming down with a fever on a Friday, of course when all the doctors offices are closed and the only solution is to take him to the ER and wait for hours. Now that he was home again and seemed to be doing better I could breath.

Just as life started to get back to normal his fever returned and I knew it was the infection again. He was confused again so I called the ambulance to come get him and take him to Coquille Hospital ER where I thought he would get better care. There were of course many different ER doctors there but the one that we were lucky enough to see the time before was on duty this time. Dr Hall was a very alert doctor and he could not believe that Alan was back in the ER with the same symptoms he had several weeks before. He did blood work and Xray and CT Scan. Started antibiotics IV and called Riverbend Hospital to discuss the situation with the doctors that took care of him the last time he was admitted. When the tests were in and he found out that Alan had pneumonia again and that they sent him home, he was very upset. He said Alan was severely anemic and he thought that it was caused by something missing in his bone marrow that dissipates during dialysis. Immediately he started the process of getting him a bed at Riverbend and organized the transport by ambulance again.

Needless to say I was backed up against the wall and I lashed out big time. Dr Hall could see my frustration and told me to try to relax that he would try to get to the bottom of this.