Thursday, February 29, 2024

Breathing Aids: BIPAP, CPAP, and More

 

Michael in the ICU
February 2024

If you read the previous post, you know that my spouse was hospitalized for two weeks in early February of 2024 with a severe case of pneumonia.  He spent eight of those days in the intensive care unit at Utah Valley Regional Medical Hospital. He was attached to a variety of machines at the time: some of them were monitoring his vitals (heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation rate); some of them were giving him oxygen or fluids. 

While in the hospital, he received supplemental oxygen via three devices: 

Thankfully, he was never put on a ventilator. It is harder to wean a patient of a ventilator, and it interferes with eating, drinking, and talking. 

When he was discharged, he started using oxygen via a fourth device:

Although this is not a machine for delivering oxygen, we have two humidifiers running in our home to aid in Michael's breathing. 

This post does not provide medical advice. It is merely to raise awareness. If you have any questions about your need for supplemental oxygen, please see a licensed medical professional. 

I did not know much about any of these devices until he required them. 

These are very technical, so I am chiefly going to provide links and videos so that the experts can explain them. 

Sunday, February 18, 2024

When Pneumonia Hijacked My Spouse

Michael in the ICU
on a BIPAP Machine

Even though my husband Michael has never* had any respiratory problems, he was hospitalized for 14 days this month because he had a severe case of community-acquired [bacterial] pneumonia.  

*Yes, he had pneumonia before--but he was only 9, and he was not hospitalized for it.

From Sunday 03 February to Saturday 17 February, my husband spent eight days in the intensive care unit and six days in a regular hospital room. These were two hospital stays because he was discharged on Saturday 10 February and spent about 30 hours at home (Saturday 10 February 12:30 pm to Sunday 11 February 4:30 pm) before requiring readmittance. 

I was initially calm, but when he returned the second time, it was a bit more unsettling. 

Note: This post does not convey medical advice. Its purpose is to raise awareness. If you have any questions about your respiratory system, please see a licensed medical professional. 

The First Visit

Michael's main symptom was fatigue. He was sleeping a lot. He did have a low-grade fever, but he was not coughing; he did not complain of shortness of breath. He did not show signs of low oxygen (blue lips, blue fingernail beds).  He was primarily sleeping a lot. We checked his blood pressure and temperature, and then I decided to go buy an oximeter since I could not find our since we were still unpacking from our move.  

I am glad that I bought the oximeter. His blood oxygen level was 70% when it's supposed to be in the high 90s.  If you do not own an pulse oximeter, I highly suggest that you buy one for home use. 

How to Use a Pulse Oximeter to Check Oxygen Saturation Levels

We took him to our little rural hospital in Mount Pleasant, Utah where he tested negative for COVID-19, RSV, Influenza A and Influenza B. They also did a CT scan looking for a pulmonary embolism. Additionally, the did an EKG to exclude heart problems. The person supervising his care was a physician assistant; however, they did a teleconference with an MD out of St. George, Utah.  She was looking for heart problems via on-site imaging and blood tests, but they could never find a heart problem. 

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Word of the Year for 2024: Community

 


Hiking in Ephraim Canyon
24 January 2024

I've done it again. I moved. 

After 7.5 years in Newburgh, Indiana, my husband and I moved to Ephraim, Utah.  This is a return trip to the state of Utah. However, I formerly lived in Utah County (9 years) and Salt Lake County (1 year). I am new to Sanpete County, population 28,437. I did visit the Manti Pageant in 1976 and the Manti Temple in 1991; otherwise, I am very naive about all things Sanpete.   

The county has deep roots with the Latter-day Saint Pioneers. It was settled in the 1850s (with some controversy with conflicts between the white settlers and the Native Americans as well as many conflicts among the white settlers over land rights and water rights).  Many of the settlers were Scandinavian. I looked at all the photos of pageant queens at the county court house. I saw names such as Jensen, Hansen, Nelson, Olsen, Jorgensen, etc.  Ephraim hosts an annual Scandinavian Days Festival at the end of May, and Spring City hosts Heritage Day the same weekend. 

More than half the county is federal or state lands. It's beautiful here. My husband works at Snow College, but much of the economy is based on agriculture: raising cattle, sheep, and turkeys.  Many people have ancestors going back 3, 4, or 5 generations. However, in the last twenty years, there have been more people moving in from other Utah counties or even from out of state. There is a significant Hispanic population here, many working for The Moroni Feed Company / Norbest, working with turkeys.  (I think Tyson recently bought this business.)

Word of the Year

You can see that I have been thinking a lot about my new community.  I recently finished a book about the history of Sanpete County, a book that has a strong focus on the 19th Century.  I have also been trying to meet people at the college, at church, at the library, at quilting bees, at gardening club, book club, the university fitness center, the hardware store, etc. 

I am trying to create community around me. It will take me months to accomplish this.  

Monday, January 1, 2024

Happy 12th Blogoversary


Photo by Whitney
via Creative Commons

Over the last 12 years, I have managed to create 475 posts on aging. These posts explore how we can better manage our own wellness while offering support to the generation above us. 

In reviewing the "All Time Most Viewed" statistics, I can see that the Top 10 posts for this blog have remained about the same. 

If you want to see what blog readers most enjoy reading, you can go to THIS LINK for the 6th Blogoversary celebration (01 Jan 2018) to find links to the Top 20 most viewed posts. 

The most notable change in the Top 20 is that the 2013 post about Robert C. Peck's Tasks for Older Adults is slowly moving up in the rankings. You can find that post at THIS LINK