2010 - May/June

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=50 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="0ab0ce82egerdp.png"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=95 BGCOLOR="#CC99CC" TEXT="#080000" background="0aa265f1ezuady.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Hynda and Nolan's  Rome and Other Adventures</B></FONT><B>  </B><B> </B><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hynda and Nolans Rome and Other Adventu"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id237.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Lonnie Chronicles"><U>The Lonnie Chronicles</U></A>   |   <B>2010 - May/June</B>   |   <A HREF="id240.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August"><U>July/August</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id243.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October"><U>September/October</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id266.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December"><U>November/December</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id269.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2011 January/February"><U>2011 - January/February</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id271.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April/May"><U>March/April/May</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id298.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="June/July/August/September"><U>June/July/August/September</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id241.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Bad Bus Trip"><U>The Bad Bus Trip</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFF33" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>2010 - May/June</I></div> <div> <B>Friday, May 28:</B> Lonnie's upstairs neighbor Bob called with some disturbing news. Bob was aware that Lonnie picks up his mail everyday after the postman comes. He noticed that Lonnie had not picked up his mail in two days so he went up and knocked on Lonnie's door. There was no answer and Lonnie does not normally lock his door so Bob was able to go in. He found Lonnie face down on the floor of his bedroom with a fair amount of dried blood around his head. Bob thinks he last saw Lonnie on either Tuesday or Wednesday of that week. Lonnie had been to see his shrink on Tuesday so he could have been down on the floor as many as three days. He called the rescue squad and they intubated (put him on respirator at the scene) Lonnie and took him to Bellvue hospital.</div> <bR> <div> It appeared as if he had fallen and possibly hit his head on the radiator in his bedroom. He had a slightly fractured cheek bone.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Saturday, Sunday, Monday, May 29,20,31:</B> Lonnie was put in intensive care at Bellevue. He was in kidney failure, dehydrated, running a fever.</div> <bR> <div> New York is filled with oddballs and here we have the 'Can Lady' who I watched walk up and down the block collecting plastic bottles and cans.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="123044b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> At the transfer point at 34th Street between the F and N trains there is always some musician playing. This was the youngest performer we have seen.</div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="123244b30.jpg" border=0 width="580" height="435" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, June 1,2,3:</B> Hynda and I were in NYC. Lonnie had pneumonia and ran a temperature of over 103. He was heavily sedated all week and did not respond to any conversation. He also has a very bad bed sore (Stage 3) that they are treating. We tried to get the hospital to allow us to bring in some of Hynda's patent that is for bedsores and is a Phase 3 clinical trial but the hospital rules would not allow it. On Wednesday they decided to reduce the sedation to see if he would start breathing on his own. He did a little talking at the end of our stay but nothing that made sense. They did not remove the respirator. He has pneumonia.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Friday, Saturday, Sunday, June 4,5,6:</B> The doctors told us that from the blood tests it appears that Lonnie may have had a very slight heart attack and that could be the reason for his fall. He was also losing blood and they called on Saturday morning to get our OK to go ahead with a 2-pint transfusion. They do not know what the blood loss was from. They asked if he had a hemorrhoid (no) condition or bleeding ulcers (no). His temperature was going down. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Monday, June 7:</B> Lonnie was taken off the respirator. He had been on the respirator since he was found in his apartment on May 28<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT>.  His temperature started to go down from the high of 103+ of the last week. We were able to talk to him when we arrived on Monday although his voice was weak and we could barely hear him. He still had pneumonia and was not able to move much… just squeeze hands and wiggle toes. I tried to suction out the stuff he was trying to spit up but he just clamped down on the suction whenever it entered his mouth. When I told him to open his mouth his lips parted but his teeth did not let go. We were not sure if he was playing with us or had no control over his mouth.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tuesday, June 8:</B> Much better today. We talked about the oil spill and the asshole Helen Thomas. We talked about closed hospitals in Manhattan - bankrupt!! Cabrini had closed a few years ago and he informed me who Mother Cabrini was.. so his long-term memory seemed fine. He had no recollection of the fall in his apartment or our visit of the day before and the week before. His temperature was now down to normal but there was still concern about the bed sore/wound on his back (Stage 3) and he was losing some blood from some unknown reason. </div> <bR> <div> He told us he was hungry at dinner time and Hynda went out and bought him some soup. He took one spoonful and said it was terrible. Then when dinner came I fed him some applesauce - his comment was why do they take a perfectly good apple and ruin it - it seems that Lonnie was coming back. He tried mashed potatoes, chicken, a different soup and complained about them all. </div> <bR> <div> We went out for dinner and when we returned he was getting another transfusion which bothered us since he was still losing blood for some reason. The nurse did tell us that after we left she was able to feed him most of the rest of the meal.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Wednesday, June 9:</B> Lonnie was moved out of the ICU (good) to the regular hospital but when we visited him he seemed agitated, not able to speak, non-responsive and the temperature was back. He did not eat all day. A physical therapist who was there to test him asked him what year it was and he responded 2012 with a little smirk on his face. Again, we were not able to tell if he was kidding or not. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Thursday, June 10:</B> We are now home. Lonnie was sent back to the ICU where he can get better attention. They told us his salt level has increased dramatically and they do not know why. They are thinking of doing some more scans of his brain. He has blood in his stool but on Tuesday when he was up and lucid he told them he did not want a colonoscopy so they are somewhat limited in tracking the cause of the blood loss. His temperature is back to normal and he is considered stable.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Friday, Saturday, Sunday, June 11,12,13:</B> Lonnie was highly agitated in ICU. His neighbor Bob and cousin Gale visited him over the weekend and he was fairly non-responsive. They are trying to get a handle on why his salt is so high.. it got up to 160 - normal range is 120-145. High salt can get into brain and affect someone's ability to reason, think, etc. They did an MRI of his brain on Friday afternoon and it seemed to indicate no dramatic change. He does have some old bleeding in brain that appeared but this was the case with the last MRI in 2008 so nothing new to explain what is going on. By Sunday, the salt level was down to mid 150s.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Monday, June 14:</B> When Hynda and I arrived Lonnie acknowledged us but his stare was vacant. He could not talk but did react to us being there. They have a 24-hour nurse sitting in his room who writes down what he is doing every 15 minutes. The doctor told us that they would be looking at the kidneys as the problem with the salt. She tried to explain what they would do but she lost us. His level was now down to 150 so it is going in the right direction. His temperature is good. He was coughing a bit and the doctor was concerned that the pneumonia had come back. They will be having a surgeon look at the bedsore that is also still a problem. The good news is that he was not agitated. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tuesday, June 15:</B> Finally a good day. We talked to the infectious disease doctor this morning and she said there is no sign of pneumonia. The x-rays and her listening to his chest revealed his lungs are clear. She said the coughing is due to the amount of water they are putting into him to wash out the salt and will continue until he is in balance. The 24-hour nurse complained to us that he is a `bad' boy. He tried to get out of bed numerous times and wants out. She says he used foul language with her. We were able to have a conversation with him and he was lucid if a little confused. Everything he said was correct but sometimes it was out of context with what we were talking about. I had picked up his blanket from the cleaner and it was $50. When I told Lonnie that I picked it up he said that he could not believe what they charge to clean a blanket so he remembered both the blanket and the cost. While we were there the nurse tried to straighten him in the bed and he told her to `not put her f**en hands on him'. He told us he was hungry but they are feeding him by tube and until it comes out of nose he will not be able to eat. Tonight a speech and swallowing person will visit him to determine when they can take out the tube and start feeding him. The surgeon did clean out the bed sore in his back and said it looked good - lots of healthy tissue… so right now things are looking up… but it will be along recovery and we tried to make clear to him that he will have to do a lot of PT to get back to the point where he can go to his apartment.. hope Lonnie understands what it will take…</div> <bR> <div> <B>Wednesday, June 16, 2010:</B> Lonnie is out of ICU, which is the good news. He is in a special part of the hospital where there are 4 people in a room with 2 nurses 24 hours. For the morning visit he was totally non-responsive again and had the blank stare in his eyes again. The nurse had put big mittens on his hands since he had pulled out his feeding tube. He was still coughing and the nurse said that he refuses to open his mouth when she tries to put the suction tube in. Bob and Louise visited Lonnie while I was there in the afternoon. He was the same - opened his eyes when you talked to him but not much in the way of recognition or response. </div> <bR> <div> Before I left I talked to the doctor and she explained that because of Lonnie's compromised immune system anything out of the ordinary will throw his body off. She said that if a healthy person had a salt reading as high as 160 they would not be confused and delusional but because of Lonnie's health this does happen to him. She explained that part of the brain sends out a hormone that controls the kidney salt function. They are going to do a test to see if the problem from the salt stems from the brain or the kidney. They can artificially put the hormone into the kidney and if the kidney reacts properly then the problem is probably due to the brain not sending the hormone. If the kidney does not react to the hormone then the problem is the kidney. If this is the case the future may require dialysis. If it is the brain then this can be solved with the artificially induced hormone.</div> <bR> <div> She also told me that the brain scans of May 28 and then June 2<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >nd</FONT> did show that there was more brain bleed possibly as a result of the fall. The other doctor that told me there was no change must have been referring to difference between the brain scan of June 2<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >nd</FONT> and June 10<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> which showed no change. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Thursday, June 17, 2010:</B> Called nurse's station and they said that Lonnie was resting comfortably, was doing some talking but was still very confused. Feeding tube is still in.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Friday, June 18, 2010:</B> Dr. Wong called with update. Lonnie is doing better. Feeding tube is out so he can start eating at least fluids. He is talking. His salt level is down. He may start physical therapy on Monday if things progress well.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Saturday, June 19:</B> Nurse in Lonnie's room reported that he was up and talking and cursing her. Told her not to take it personally and that was a good sign. Feeding tube still in. She said he is a little confused. She yelled at him `do you know Nolan?' and I heard him in the background reply but she said that Lonnie said ` I knew him a long time ago.'</div> <bR> <div> <B>Sunday, June 20:</B> Called nurse's station and she said that Lonnie had eaten dinner. This is the first time in almost two weeks that he has eaten anything. She said he is up and talking but confused. Bob visited him today and he called and said that Lonnie was much better and up and talking and knew that it was Sunday. He did not think Lonnie was that confused but did say that sometimes he referenced things that Bob did not know about. Bob said that Lonnie did ask for me. Hynda and I will be back in NY on Monday. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Monday, June 21:</B> Arrived in afternoon and found Lonnie up and talking. The room he is in has 4 people and 2 fulltime 24-hour nurses. One of the roommates does not shut up and has a loud voice. During my stay I heard him sing White Xmas and read the entire real estate section of a newspaper. The other patient is an older woman who asked me to change her bedpan. He had eaten both his lunch and dinner the nurse said although Lonnie told me that he was not eating anything. He seemed to be fine for most of our conversation but then told me that he was not going back to his apartment and refused to have his body used anymore for the weekend voodoo experiments of Sandy his upstairs neighbor. When I left I ran into the Doctor who is in charge of him and she told me that she now understood what I meant by Lonnie being a smart, engaging person. She had a conversation with him about food and he gave her a lecture on the history of Bellevue Hospital.. She said his salt level was going down but they could not do any tests on his kidneys until he ate for a couple of days and his salt level remained good. She talked about his old baseline for life and a new one. She hoped he could return to his old baseline but only time will tell.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tuesday, June 22:</B> Hynda arrived late last night and she had not seen Lonnie since he moved to the special observation room. We met the doctor at the elevator as we were going in and she said that she was pleased with Lonnie's salt levels and they would be doing tests in the next two days to see the cause of the high salt levels. Lonnie is taking in enough fluids now so they will be taking out the intravenous tube that is giving him fluids. She did warn us that he was still very confused at times - this morning he had taken off all his clothes and was banging his head on the railing of the bed. When we arrived he immediately said hello to Hynda and introduced her to the nurse as his sister-in-law. His lunch was there so I asked him if he was hungry and he replied no.. I told him that everyone says that it is important that he start eating and he got angry and balled up his fists and screamed at me in a rage “we are soldiers and we do not need food and water”. I told him that he was correct. We went out in the hall for awhile and when we came back he was sitting up and eating his lunch which he finished. The rest of the visit in the day and later in the afternoon was the same. During his lucid moments he did tell me that he did not want me to come anymore - that I should get on with my life - that he was not leaving the hospital. Later he told me he wants me to bring him a death pill - so the lucid moments were not too good and the irrational moments were not good. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Wednesday, June 23:</B> Lonnie was not allowed to eat today. They were taking blood and urine samples every hour from 9 AM to 4PM. I was asked to hold his arm when they tried to find a vein in his arm to poke. He continued to have lucid moments and totally off the wall statements. One whole train of thought had to do with British children and insurance?? He kept taking off his covers and exposing himself and Hynda could not sit by the bed. On one occasion when I tried to cover him up he flew into a rage and told me that if I touched his cover again he would break my elbow. He reminded me that two floors up the lights converged and needed to be shut off since he would not be doing any cooking tonight. He asked me if there were still triangular piles of money next to the bed and I assured him they were still there so he would not get upset. … and then in the next sentence he asked us if there was still a placeGulf of Mexico left. When we left the hospital the doctors had said that the tests they were doing on the kidneys showed that he was doing fine and they would be able to regulate their operation so that was the good news when we left.</div> <bR> <div> The bus ride home was with the driver I had last week when we broke down. He made us sit in front as his special passengers - he made someone move out of the seat. Then the woman from Ghana who was the only passenger left with me showed up also..</div> <bR> <div> <B>Thursday, June 24:</B> Called nurse station and she said Lonnie had just finished his dinner and ate everything. She said he was doing OK and he asked for me several times.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Friday, June 25:</B> Loonie's friend Bob visited and was quite encouraged. Said that about 90 percent of the time Lonnie carried on  a normal conversation. He asked for club soda which they bought him. He also asked for his glasses which he told them were broken. He found the glasses I had brought and they were in fact broken. He did remember that we told him we had been at Lousie's for dinner last Monday. I called the nurse station and they reported he ate all his meals.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Saturday, June 26:</B> Lonnie ate all his meals today and nurse said he was having a good day but still somewhat confused.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Sunday, June 27:</B> No call. Bad brother.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Monday, June 28:</B> Called nurse this morning and refused to say anything other than he was stable. The doctor did call and she said they had taken the catheter out and they were moving him to a regular room and that he was doing much better. His periods of confusion are almost gone. They want to move him to rehab but he has to get a little stronger first.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tuesday, June 29:</B> Arrived at Bellevue in the afternoon and met Dr. Wong in the lobby. She told me that they had a small setback in the night. Lonnie had tried to get out of bed and they found him on the floor. He had gone to the bathroom all over himself. He must have awakened and tried to get up to go to the bathroom. He still has the catheter in for urination but not the anal catheter.</div> <bR> <div> The nurse greeted us by asking us if we were Lonnie's parents. Not a good start to the day.</div> <bR> <div> Lonnie is now moved to a room with four people and only one person to watch them 24 hours. He was glad to see me but warned me that the conversation may be funny because he was getting confused and losing his train of thought. We had a good talk and he seemed fine until he looked at me and said that I may not know that there is a inner space war going on and he was not sure whether we were on the same side. Then he stopped talking and said I think I better stop because I am not making sense so he was aware of what he had said. He is starting to remember things and was aware of Bob's visit and my visit last week. All in all it was a good day. Lonnie requested some club soda which we bought and Hynda had made some banana bread which he liked although he did not finish it all.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Wednesday, June 30:</B> This was the best day yet. At no time did he make any comments that were inappropriate. He even asked me to make sure that he had paid his accountant for his annual taxes. We had brought his shaver from home and we gave him a shave and I cut his nails which were quite long. The physical therapist came and Lonnie got out of bed and stood up and walked around the room and into the hall with the aid of a walker. His legs are like sticks and I thought for sure they would not hold him up but he walked fine. They also removed the catheter today and he was peeing on his own. I talked to Dr. Wong and the physical therapist. The PT person could not believe it was the same person she had seen the week before. He had thrown her out of the room and told PT was useless since he was not leaving the hospital. Dr. Wong wants to get him into acute rehab at Bellevue which is a more intense version of PT. She thinks he could handle it. If he has to go to sub-acute rehab it would not be at Bellevue and would not be in </div> <div> Manhattan. I was supposed to talk to the social worker but she never showed up before we had to leave.</div> <bR> <div> They have assigned a psychiatrist to Lonnie and he called me this morning. I gave him the number of Lonnie's therapist and they talked and have prescribed some anti-depressants for him.</div> <bR> <div> His room attendant for today was really bad and I complained about him to the doctor who said they knew about him. For breakfast they have a piece of white bread in a plastic wrapper and he took it out with his bare hands and buttered it for Lonnie. He told the guy he would not eat it since he touched it with his hands and they guy told Lonnie his hands were clean. Lonnie refused to eat anything. When I was shaving Lonnie I asked for a towel to put around his neck and when he gave it to me he insisted that I put it on the way he told me. He positioned himself in such a way that he could hear our conversations with Lonnie and constantly interrupted with his comments on what we were saying. Fortunately, he left at 3PM. Lonnie was very upset with him and kept yelling at him to shutup when he started to talk to us.</div> <bR> <div> All in all - a great day and much more progress than I ever expected at this point. Lonnie's attitude seems great and he wants the PT so he can get out.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>