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Amy's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 4/19/02 -------------------- 1/21/02 12/30/01 11/12/01 9/7/01 9/1/01 8/18/01 7/7/01 6/12/01 5/3/01 4/10/01 3/12/01 2/3/01 1/4/01 1/3/01 12/30/00 12/6/00 11/28/00 11/4/00 10/31/00 10/25/00 10/11/00 10/5/00 9/28/00 9/19/00 9/15/00 9/7/00 8/23/00 8/17/00 8/9/00 8/4/00 7/20/00 7/12/00 7/6/00 6/22/00 6/14/00 6/8/00 5/24/00 5/16/00 5/15/00 5/14/00 5/13/00 5/12/00 5/9/00 4/28/00 4/13/00 4/6/00 3/30/00 3/24/00 3/16/00 3/9/00 2/29/00 2/4/00 -------------------- Amy's Introduction

January 3, 2001

We took Sam to the doctor this morning because he was pretty sick with cold symptoms. We found out that his left ear is infected again (second ear infection ever) and he has a bad case of bronchitis. The doctor gave him a breathing treatment in the office because he was wheezing. No sooner did we get home and settled in, Kenny asked for my insurance card, was crying and rushed off to the emergency room. As he raced out the door, he said he was having chest pains. We've been fighting all day, so my first thought (hope) was that it would be anxiety.

They took some chest x-rays at the emergency room, along with performing other tests. The emergency room doctor said that Kenny had a heart attack, but that it probably wasn't today -- maybe two days ago or even a week.

The problem NOW is congestive heart failure and an enlarged heart. They drugged him up good and got him pretty stable and out of pain, and wanted to transport him via helicopter to Columbus, but Columbus got hit with an ice storm and wouldn't send the helicopter. They sent their ambulance instead (I don't know why they wouldn't just use one of our local emergency vehicles).

I spent a little time with him in the ER before they took him, but I had to divide my time between him and sick Sam.

His nurse from Columbus just called (at Kenny's request) to give me an update since I can't be there. She said he is very stable and was going to call his cardiologist as soon as she got off the phone with me so he could come up to see Kenny. She said that she would call me between 6 and 7 in the morning with another update. Whatever procedure they end up doing tomorrow (likely a heart cath and an angioplasty) they won't give a time for it, and only a window of anywhere between 7 a.m. and whenever. (Some window, huh?)

Sam's keeping a consistent fever, although it is a little lower now (only 100.2 under the armpit). He won't take any of his meds. He pukes every time I give him any of them, including the Tylenol, which he normally takes just fine. If his super-sensitive gag reflex lands him in the hospital too, I don't know how I'll handle all of this. He has Albuterol and Augmenten, but the Augmenten was REALLY making him puke badly, so they changed it to Ammoxicillan, which he refuses to take so far. His doctor said it would be OK if he didn't start it until tomorrow, under the circumstances.

I feel very bad that Kenny has been in congestive heart failure for God knows how long, all the while continuing to keep the laundry up, cleaning the house, running my errands and obeying my barked out orders in general.

I have NO clue what my tomorrow holds. I’m going to bed and PRAYING for Kenny's recovery and that Sam will sleep at least a few hours in a row.