Monday, August 2, 2010 9:31 PM, MDT

Bill is in the Northern Colorado Rehab Hospital now. He was moved there this afternoon. He has had a tour and an evaluation and is ready to  get to work.

He is not yet eating real food, his epiglottis seems to be paralyzed. Apparently there is therapy for that and we hope to get him eating soon.

He is doing amazingly well the doctors and nurses are very excited for his progress so far so you can imagine where he will be in a few weeks.
  

Wednesday, August 4, 2010 5:21 PM, MDT

Bill had a good day today. He had lots of therapy, he even got to eat some runny mashed potatoes and peaches and thick water. He also had some strawberry shake, that made his day!

His attitude is very good, even though he is getting a little grumpy. I have been told that is a good thing.

If you would like to send Bill cards or letters send them to our house.

If you would like to visit Bill the best times are evening and weekends. You may call the Northern Colorado Long Term Acute Care Hospital to see if he is available for visitors. We may or may not be here.

PLEASE DO NOT BRING FOOD UNLESS JOY OR NURSE HAS GIVEN YOU PERMISSION, EVEN IF HE ASKS FOR SOMETHING.

Thursday, August 5, 2010 9:46 PM, MDT

Bill had another good day.

 Just a note about visiting, don't call the hospital after all. Contact me or one of the girls before you come. The hospital won't give any information over the phone. Too many visitors can overwhelm him and tire him out too quickly.

This is going to be a long journey and Bill will need support for some time.

Thanks for all your support we truly need it.  

Bill was looking forward to getting regular therapy and he really wanted to go home. He kept asking me to take him home, even for a visit. The hospital didn't allow me to take him home even just to drive by. We didn't think it would be long and he would be going home for good anyway so I didn't push the issue.

At the LTAC Bill got to take his first real shower. It took a very long time but he felt so good after. He also decided to grow his beard back. By now Bill was able to sit in a wheelchair and actually move himself around. The nurses let him wander around the hospital by himself and I think that Bill liked having some independence.

Now that I was home it was so hard to leave him at the hospital. I had a hard time being home without him. I was with Bill as much as I could. It was a 25 mile drive from our house, so once I was over there I pretty much stayed.

My parents had been at my house for a week and had to go home. I was so glad that they had been there. My dad made sure Kayla's car was all tuned up and  had new tires, before she took it to Grand Junction. Also my mom cleaned out my camper. I don't think that I would have had the energy to take care of that chore. We also brought home, our cat Cleo.

The speech therapist at the LTAC was really good. She had Bill eating "real" food. Bill joked "I finally get to eat food and this is what I get." He had some pretty unappetizing food, at first it had to be all pureed.

I have the most amazing neighbors! They took care of my yard and garden while we were gone and continued after we got back. I would not have been able to do any of that.I would leave home at 8 am and return around 9pm if I could get away.

Reading and remembering all this is so hard because we were suppose to win and beat this awful disease. It makes me sad that we didn't bring Bill home even for a few hours. I miss him.

Friday, July 30, 2010 9:25 PM, MDT

Bill woke up this morning and was taken off the ventilator and is breathing fine. He was talking to us and trying to figure out where he is  and everything. You can imagine what that must be like. I don't yet how long he will be at the MCR. He will probably go right from there to the rehab hospital.

Keep up the prayers as we still have a very long road to go.

Thanks to all the neighbors who have been taking such great care of our yard. I couldn't get through this with out all the support.

Saturday, July 31, 2010 6:20 PM, MDT

What a difference a day makes.  Bill was patiently waiting for us to come visit him. Physical therapy came for a visit and and had him up and standing with little assistance, a walker and some help from the pt's. He was almost standing to full height!! It was the best that he has done, I was very impressed. He is so ready for rehab.

Bill has to have a minor surgery to replace his dialysis catheter tomorrow. They are putting one in that will work more efficiently and be less visible.

They removed a "pik" line today and put just a regular IV in. Just less and less stuff in him it is a good thing.

We are hoping to be out of MCR on Monday and busy at rehab next week.

Sunday, August 1, 2010 7:40 PM, MDT

He walked today!! He walked about 5 feet with a walker and a therapist steadying him.Then, he walked backwards to his bed, he did that twice and then he walked to his recliner. Later he walked from the chair to the bed and was standing with walker on his own. The nurse said he was stronger than last night and he was impressed. I know I am.

Bill is starting to get grouchy! He is complaining about a lot of things. The doctor says that is a good thing. I spent most of my day arguing with him about many things. I am exhausted.

He has a new catheter for dialysis, the doctors are very hopeful that the kidneys will start working in a month or two.

Tomorrow we will be headed to rehab and I think Bill will be happy about that.

Keep up the prayers I may need them now!

As I read over this journal it makes so sad. I was so positive that he would recover no matter what. Every bump in the road was one that we could get over.

The girls were anxious to see their dad. They had spent every day in Montana with him and it felt strange to not see him. My friends Faith and Jon brought us dinner that night at the hospital. It was definitely different than when we were in Montana where I had no one.

Dr. Petron came to me that morning and looked me in the eye, I was a little concerned, thinking something was wrong. Dr. Petron said to me, after giving me a good look, "good, you got some rest." I then knew for sure that Bill had a very good doctor.

When Bill was just waking up that day he was frightened. I told him that he was going to be ok, and he seemed to believe me.I knew from being in the ICU with Bill in Montana that Bill was breathing ok. I felt very educated that I could read the ventilator machine and know that he was fine.

When the surgeon was talking to Bill about the minor surgery, Bill was able to understand what was going on and told the doctor that he didn't want to have general anesthesia.The doctor agreed to only do a local. I was happy that Bill could make some of his own decisions.

When Bill stood and walked I was so happy! It was strange to see him standing up, it had been so long since I saw him standing. Also Bill's breathing was so much better after the respiratory arrest. Apparently, what ever it was that cause the arrest needed to come out for him to heal completely.

The ICU in Medical Center of the Rockies doesn't have bathrooms in the rooms. All they had was a portable toilet. Bill was very angry about that. He wanted to use a bathroom! He yelled and complained about it. Also he wanted to start eating. He had not been cleared by the speech therapist to eat. Bill didn't care about that and I had to be the one to tell him it wasn't safe for him to eat until he had gotten ok'd by the speech therapist.(I learned that speech therapy does a lot more that speech.) It was exhausting to argue with him about these things when I couldn't do anything about it. I was encouraging however that he was thinking normally.

The kidney doctors were pretty positive that his kidneys would kick in and start working and he wouldn't need dialysis anymore. I was sure of it too. Dialysis is a very long process and Bill was not the kind of person to be able to sit for long periods of time. I was worried about how he would tolerate dialysis long term. I had already been looking into other options.

While Bill was in the ICU, a young woman was admitted to the room next to his. We noticed police come with her. The next day we heard on the radio that a girl that we knew was in a bad car accident. It was very upsetting to know that someone that I knew was in critical condition next door to us. I quickly bought a small gift and had it sent to her. Eventually I spoke the young woman's mother and added her my prayers.

The staff of the ICU at MCR was wonderful. I am amazed at the caring people that I had the opportunity to meet.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 7:58 PM, MDT

Just letting everyone know the update will be late tonight. We are on our way home.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 9:21 PM, MDT

It was a big day today! We got the news that we would be heading home this morning! The EMT's got there and in no time, Joy was on the plane with Bill and speeding off to the airport.

Bill is all settled into the rehab hospital. The doctors seem really nice and the hospital will be a good place for us. Bill slept for most of the day which turned out to be Ok. It probably would have been difficult to explain in writing everything that was going on.

The girls are taking their time getting home.

Please don't be concerned if we don't post for a few days. As things get to be more routine and there aren't any big changes, we just won't be posting daily.

Thursday, July 29, 2010 5:58 PM, MDT

So we hit a pothole late last night...Bill had some breathing issues which sent him to the ICU at the Medical Center of the Rockies. Luckily it isn't a long term problem, but he will be here for a couple of days.

The girls got home safely. We are now all adjusting to being home again.

We'll let you know when we are ready for visitors.

Wednesday morning I thought maybe we would be leaving but I wasn't sure. I had a bag packed, I could only take one small bag. When we got to the hospital Bill was asleep and and kind of out of it. I was hearing from different people that we were leaving that day. I finally got a confirmation that we were leaving. I had to send the girls down to the truck to get my bag. Things started moving pretty quickly, the team that would be flying us to Colorado was there and the next thing I knew I was in an ambulance on the way to the airport.

The airplane was a small twin engine plane. I was not scared or excited, I was just numb, not sure why that was except that after everything I had been through not much could phase me at that point.

The flight team consisted of a pilot, nurse and two EMTs.

They had given Bill a sedative before we left. He slept the entire trip. I am not even sure that he knew he was going home that day as he was kind of "out of it" before we left.

On the plane I was given a small seat at the back of the plane by the door. I had been forewarned about the flight by my friend Rhoda. Rhoda's husband was in the ICU at the same time as Bill. He had a brain bleed on his brain stem while on a cross country bicycle trip. They are from Colorado Springs.

She had told me that the plane was very cold and if I could, bring a blanket. She was right. It was very cold and not comfortable at all. I did try and sleep because I really couldn't see out any windows. I am not usually  a good flyer so I was surprised at how calm I was. 

I finally looked out and could see the mountains of home out the window and I nearly cried. We landed very quickly. I was in Loveland Colorado. I don't even know how to explain what I was feeling. I got into the ambulance and the driver asked me about my story. All I had to say was that we were the 3rd meningitis victim.

We got to the Long Term Acute care hospital near Loveland. The nursing staff and doctors were very nice and welcoming. My parents were at my house and were quickly on their way to see me and Bill. It was early afternoon by this time. My dear friend Faith and Jon were excited to see us too and offered to bring me dinner, which I accepted gratefully. Bill was still mostly sleepy and woke up only to say hi to Faith and Jon, and their son. It was so good to see them and my parents after being on my own for so long.

After everyone had left, I was getting settled in for the night as I was staying with Bill at the hospital. As I was trying to go to sleep around 10pm Bill's oxygen monitor kept alarming. I was about to call for help when the nurse came in and in a matter of a few seconds there was a large group of nurses in Bill's room. I am in a dark corner watching all of this not understanding what is going on when I hear someone say "we have to get him to the medical center". I knew that that was the Medical Center of the Rockies. I was terrified! A nurses aid drove me to the hospital and dropped me off at the emergency entrance. It was the middle of the night, I was alone and scared and didn't know what in the heck had happened.

I was soon brought into the ER and was allowed to see Bill.  He was intbated and on a ventilator. I was in disbelief. The ER doctor told me that he had pulled something out of Bill's mouth that looked like a piece of meat and that it appeared that he choked on it. I told him that it couldn't be meat because Bill hadn't been allowed to eat yet.

Soon Bill  was transferred to the ICU. I was looking for a place to lay my head as I had not slept since the night before. Finally the nurse brought me a cot to sleep in Bill's room. I was just getting to lay down when the doctor came in and was going to scope down Bill's airway. The nurse was just asking me to leave when the doctor said "she can stay if she wants to". I did stay and watched the scope of Bill's airway. It was clear. The doctor thought that what had happened was that the flight and move had dislodged some old "junk" in his lungs and he had aspirated it and stopped breathing. His heart also stopped while he was in the ambulance. The prognosis was good, I was able to kind of sleep for a while.

The girls were on the way home that day and was suppose to be home sometime that afternoon. I didn't want to tell them what had happened because I knew how upsetting that would be for them. Of course they are texting me asking how things were going and such. I had to be evasive in my texts back. I wanted to tell them in person.

My parents were on their way to a family reunion when I called them and told them what had happened. They did a u-turn and came to the hospital right away. I was sure at this point that Bill would be ok, because I was watching the ventilator and knew from previous experience that he was starting to breath on his own.

The doctor that was on day shift was Dr.Petron. Dr.Petron had been one of the doctors that took care of the other two men that had died of meningitis. He was very concerned about Bill and really wanted him to recover. He also was concerned for me. He told my parents to "get me out of the hospital". They did I went home for the first time since June, took a shower and ate. The girls got home soon after and I had to tell them what had happened. They actually took the news quite well.