The ongoing saga....

Lets see... I must be to at least part 17. I think I left off last time we were still in Uganda, at home...

Tim was still unable to bear weight standing at all. (I want to just point out again that he is an otherwise really healthy, active guy. It is really disheartening to see him unable to walk.) After talking with a doctor in the states (you know who you are- THANK YOU!!) and the doctor that saw us in Kampala we increased the abx and switched them back to IV. Q 6 hours until we could get him back to the International Hospital. So at dawn we packed up the car again, Angie drove this time (good work Angie!) and 5 hours later we finally got there and got him admitted. But we quickly became discouraged with the terrible care at the hospital in Kampala. (that will be it's own post in the near future- it will be titled something like “nursing as it never should be”) Late evening we decided that we couldn't stay. We discussed leaving right then but we had no where to get the IV abx that Tim needed so we would stay to allow them to provide the meds and I would continue to give them and hound them through the night to do things like vitals. We would begin arranging flights first thing in the morning. So by 10 am we were pushing the staff to get us our paperwork, another dose to go and get the bill paid. In true african fashion it was 1pm and we had to have the taxi racing towards Entebee to make the flight. (Funny story here: We were passed by a police car with lights/siren so the taxi driver hit his hazard lights on and jumped in behind him. We usually leave more than an hour when going to the airport and we did it in 25 minutes.) We managed security somehow. I had my fully stocked medical bag with everything from a high temp cautery and scalpels to prescription meds and narcotics but no where to leave it and I was thinking I was still going to need a few things from it. And we did. 2pm found us struggling though the airport with a bunch a bags, Tim and Angie's 6 month old, her car seat and Tim unable to walk. With meds due. So I'm a good american nurse. Meds can't be more than a hour late. At quarter to 3 we were sitting on a plane waiting for take off and I was reconstituting ampicillin and cloxacillin into a 500 cc NS bag to infuse over the next hour. Tim wondered out loud if the change in barometric pressure would change the rate of infusion. (BTW the answer seems to be that the elevation has little to no effect on the drip rate.) I was getting very frustrated when what should have been a really good line wouldn't flush and we were stuck in our seats as the seat belt light was on. Any way, we managed, arrived in Kenya. Got Tim through the airport, and found our taxi. 2 hours later we arrived at the hospital with Tim looking increasingly sick. But the doctor was standing outside the ED entrance waiting for us. I can't even begin to tell you how comforting it was walking into a well staffed, well stocked, honest to goodness ER where they took vitals and did a real assessment! They had a new line in and had drawn blood and two sets of cultures in a matter of about 30 minutes. Within two hours he had been to radiology and we were admitted to a room on a floor that actually looks like a hospital. The head of the bed goes up and there is a call light. I really felt like we were leaving him in good hands. The doctor came in and let us know that the labs were back. The results were good and bad. Good that there is practically nothing on them. BUN and creat normal. White count normal. (How can that even be?!!) The doctor really can't explain. But we knew they were going to start the antibiotics and keep an eye on him through the night. Angie and I were both so hungry and tired we packed up very shortly after that and headed out to find the guesthouse.

I woke up feeling great (Angie too I think). Zulea slept through the night, the guest house was quiet and peaceful. Only to get a phone call from Tim first thing in the morning.  He had a miserable night and was feeling sicker than he had in a while. Just listening to Angie talk to him on the phone made me physically nauseated. We tried to get quickly to the hospital but had some trouble getting there quick...this is still a third world country. We arrived and the doctors were rounding right then. Listening to them discuss- none of the 4 of them have a clear idea what is going on. During the night the fever was back (101.6 ax) and he was shaking with chills. He was feeling palpations and chest pressure but the nurse never took vitals. She told Tim it was just due to the infection. She also didn't call the doctor so they didn't hear about it until am. So the plan for now is to change the abx again and add a CT and MRI. So now we are back to waiting.....