Bill's Health Update

 

Bill had a setback today.

He woke up this morning very dizzy. He told me he fell last night. He fell two more times this morning.

I called his VA nurse and she arrived shortly thereafter in this horrid wind and rain weather we're having right now, even as I write this post at 8:06 PM tonight.

She took his blood and urine sample.  Bill doesn't have a fever but his blood pressure was below normal. Going to the emergency room is out of the question. We're not doing that again.

Now is the time for decision making. If Bill has a urinary infection, which is common for someone his age and health condition, then she will prescribe medications or that. If not, then she suggested either hospice care (again, Bill has already been on hospice care twice) or a rehab facility. Bill is not going to a rehab facility. She will have the results of the tests tomorrow and we will make the decision then.

Because Bill is so wobbly he's finally using both of the walkers we have in the house, that we've collected over several hospital stays (I even gave one away to the thrift store). He's also using my old cane from my leg injury way back in 2013 (how long ago that seems). 

Of a big concern for both of us is Bill going up and down the stairs to his bathroom and bedroom, both of which are located in the basement. We tried to dissuade him from using the stairs but he won't hear of it. We both decided that he should have some control over his life. He is very careful going down and up the stairs. He uses both the railing and the wall to steady himself. His other falls were caused by him refusing to use a walker or a cane, which he now uses. He finally came to his senses on that part.

I am exhausted now. I don't want to go to bed this early but with the wind and rain whipping against our house, I am sorely tempted to climb into my comfortable, flannel sheeted bed and sleep away my worries. 

We also had the suicide watch people visit and call. Bill has expressed a desire to kill himself and end this misery for all. The VA health care system is rightly concerned about his possibility. I don't think Bill would do such a thing but I have hidden all the sharp instruments like the scissors that he often uses.

While all this was going on I received a text from my good friend and former classmate Bill B. (another "Bill"), informing me that our fellow classmate who has kept our class together all these years is now in the hospital under hospice palliative care with congestive heart failure and pneumonia.  She is the one who has always informed us of other classmates' passing or illnesses. This is getting too much folks.

I am so tired.