ER Again

We spent yesterday afternoon in the ER again.  For the past few weeks, Les has complained of a heaviness in his chest.  He has shortness of breath which we know is ALS progression, but the heaviness was new.  It would come and go.  Dr. Steve happened to visit on Wednesday night and we told him about it.  He checked back again on Thursday morning - listened to Les' lungs with a stethescope.  He didn't hear anything unusual but Les felt like the pressure was getting worse.  Les' ankles and calves were also quite swollen.  Dr. Steve thought we should get a chest X-ray and a breathing test - he decided it would be best to just drive to ER and get all the tests done there.

Since Les is ALS and complained of breathing issues, we got right into Room #5.  We had great nurses and didn't wait too long for the doctor.  Meanwhile we had checked in with nurse Jen at UW and she relayed what tests Dr. Weiss thought would be beneficial.  One of  the tests was a Deep Vein Thrombosis, which is an ultrasound of the veins in your legs.  That was a pretty cool test - kinda like a baby ultrasound.  We could hear the blood swishing around in his veins.

They also did chest X-rays, oxygen in the blood, blood tests, urine tests, and a CT scan.  Les was not happy after the CT scan - he was in a sling and just one nurse was hoisting him up and his head flopped around quite a bit.  Today he has a VERY sore neck and can't move it much.

Anyway, the CT scan showed a VERY full bladder.  This was a surprise to us because Les does pee!  He has been getting up several times in the night to pee!!!  But apparently not enough.  A catheter was inserted and his bladder was drained.  A full 3 liters was drained.   (If you recall, this happened last September and he had a subsequent surgery.)    Our bladders can keep getting bigger and bigger, and Les' was pushing up into his diaphragm and causing chest pain.  The full bladder could also affect the swelling in his legs.  The DVT did find a small clot in one of Les' legs, but not big enough to cause concern right now.

We were released just in time to go home for supper.  We were both starving and exhausted.  Today I was quite overwhelmed; I think I realized how scared I really was.  When they were talking about ventilators and blood clots, I did not like that very much.  I was almost a bit mad at Les - it was only a bladder full of pee!!!  We are going back to Les' urologist next week.

Thanks to all of you who were praying.  Thanks to "brother" Dan for visiting.  Thanks to Lu for the yummy meal that was waiting for us.  I apologize for not answering all the texts I was getting yesterday and today; I just wasn't able to keep up.  That's why I blog!!   Also, thanks to my sweet niece Dani (and Elliot and Nattie)for the dinner tonight. Uncle ESPECIALLY loved the creme brulee............