How wonderful! I got a little teary eyed reading your update.
Its the dust and cottonwood pollen. I’m really not crying with happiness right now. Not me 
Please keep the good news coming.
Posting to say “Terrific news” and for the flatlined bump!
Yay Yay Yay!
I’ve been following from the beginning, but this is my first post in this thread. I never know what to say when things are bad, but now things are starting to look pretty good. I can’t wait to hear the next good news.
What? the squid?
Sadly, it probably isn’t - most policies explicitly exclude damage caused by radioactive mutant monster cephalopods unless you pay Big Buxx for a rider to cover it.
Yeah. Fucking allergies. ;).
sniff
Something like that - more like two and a half.
He was having a really hard time catching his breath tonight, one coughing fit after another while he clutched at his chest in pain. The CPT (chest percussion therapy) ** has left his ribcage so sore that it’s difficult for him to muster up the pressure to cough … which is sorta the point of the CPT in the first place, to break things up so he can cough them out.
I’m kind of a wreck now. It’s so damn hard sitting with him, watching him lying there looking completely helpless and hopeless. At one point, not one, not two, but three separate alarms started beeping at the same time, and he just gave me the saddest, most resigned look, and mouthed, “See? This is all my life is, now.”
** Essentially a medically-recommended, mechanized, slow-motion, one-sided bar fight, where you get to take all the punches.
Poor fella. I was nuts after a couple days in the hospital. It’s hard for him to realize how far he’s come. & then getting (medically) beaten up… HUGS Hang in there, both of you… it WILL get better.
Does he have a splinting pillow? If not, get him a teddy bear* about 24" tall. Have him hug it when he coughs, or you can press it into his chest when he coughs.
*A pillow works fine, but isn’t as interesting.
Hang in there buddy.
Oh no. Poor guy. Can you ask the respiratory therapists whether there’s an alternative method? Something that vibrates vs. pounding perhaps? And whether there’s any way the alarms can be tweaked to wait a little longer before sounding? (e.g. pulse ox alarm beeps after sats drop below X percent, but maybe X-5 percent instead). I have no idea whether either of those is possible.
Oh, they already do that too. In addition to the chest-pounding CPT, they alternate that with a bed CPT, where the whole bed shakes like a cheap motel Magik Fingerz. He says he finds that easier to take.
He wasn’t all that much better this morning - still not breathing easily. They upped his oxygen and pressure, and I stood there rubbing his feet (hey, I relax if someone rubs my feet!) to try to get his heart rate down. It was in the high 140s right before I got there, and was down to the low 130s by the time I left to go do a lil’ sumpin’ that resembles work. Might have been the foot rubbing, might have been the Xanax and fentanyl. Maybe both (probably the meds) but his eyelids were getting might Sandman-y when I left. Poor guy didn’t sleep at all last night, so I hope he gets many, many naps today.
Sorry, I know everyone likes reading good news (and I like posting it!) but that … ah, that wasn’t in the cards today, I suppose.
It’s just the next goal for him, really. He has to regain the ability to cough up crap on his own; he’s likely lost muscle in places you can’t see it, like his diaphragm. Eventually, the respiratory therapists will start making him blow into a tube thing with markings, making his goal keeping a ball between two of the marks when he exhales. This helps to improve lung function, but is no fun for the patient. Getting over being that sick is work!
IANA doctor nor a respiratory therapist, but I have a sister and one daughter with chronic asthma, and a husband with several conditions that have required hospitalization.
'Splain more, please? (Oh, and he will NOT be seen hugging a teddy bear, I can assure you of that!)
Do they do manual chest percussion as well? Cup their hands and beat on his back? Cause if so, here’s a little tip that will totally endear you to the respiratory techs: Home Depot sells little kitchen plungers. Get two and give them to the techs. Let them know that they’ll have to put their thumbs over the holes at the top of the handles to keep the plunger from actually suctioning. They can use them for impact instead of their hands- and when you’re doing a bunch of sessions with multiple patients, it helps a lot. And when they eventually have you doing the percussion, it’ll help you a lot too. 
The techs at UAB loved this little tip when the former Mr Kitty was there.
And yeah- they’re definitely able to adjust the alarms, if you ask them. His ‘normal’ for right now is different from the ‘normal’ the machines look for, and they need to take that into account.
Continuing the good health vibes!
It’ll feel better when he coughs if he can hug a pillow against his chest. I don’t know why, but it does!
Docs give them to heart patients after surgery; it holds everything in place and allows them to expand their lungs fully to get a good deep breath before coughing. Decreases pain as well.
The former Mr Kitty ended up breaking several ribs by coughing- he was bending over during a particularly deep coughing fit, and shattered them where they connected to his spine. Never did heal, but holding onto a pillow helped him cough with slightly less pain.
It’s actually possible he’s broken a rib, or the cartilage holding the ribs in place is inflamed from all that percussive therapy. While it’s unfortunate, the benefit from the percussive therapy is greater than the possible (temporary) rib damage.
A teddy bear, firm pillow or rolled up towel or blanket can help relieve some of the pain of coughing when your ribs have been beat to heck, or your belly cut open in surgery. The patient just hugs it close, and it helps provide counter pressure to the cough, so the ribcage doesn’t expand too far. Or at least, so it feels like that; I don’t know that it actually impedes measureable ribcage expansion, but it does help with the pain.
Ask a nurse to show you how. When my SO was recovering from abdominal surgery, even before he could hug the folded blanket himself, I’d hold it against him, and it would help.