Making Progress

Ron is much better than his first night in the hospital. He has always responded well to treatment. He is on a wide range of antibiotics until the bacteria in his lungs is identified. It could take 2 weeks to identify the fungus. They are also checking for viral issues. His need for supplemental oxygen is almost resolved already.
Besides the lung infection, it is believed that he had a bad reaction to dapsone that was started 6 weeks ago during his gvhd flare-up. It altered the iron in his red blood cells so they could not carry enough oxygen. As a result, in the past month his heart rate has been over 100 and he has had high blood pressure which was a new issue. Also, at appointments, the oxygen level was registering low until he would take several deep breaths. Following treatment with methylene blue (he is peeing Michigan blue now), this condition -methemoglobinemia- is reversing and so are the symptoms. I add this medical gibberish for the ones of you who have medical background! To check that oxygen level in his blood they use a gizmo that attaches to the end of a finger, and they also have done arterial blood gases draws which are not a walk in the park. The oxygen carrying red blood cells have reverted back to normal iron and his other vitals are back to a more normal range.
During the first night when they nearly admitted him to ICU, his BP was 184/100, his respirations 40 per minute, his heart rate 115, and he was on 80% oxygen. When they ask about intubation and CPR wishes, it gets scary. It truly was amazing how quickly his condition improved as the treatments started. The bronch has provided good information but the procedure itself exacerbated the issues.
Ron is in an isolation room on the ward where BMT patients are admitted to Mott Hospital (U of M). His BMT Clinic is just down the hall. Because of precautions I cannot go in the common areas in the inpatient area. That includes the laundry and lounge facilities, so Ron's tech is doing our laundry today for us. Bonus. We had packed to go home on Thursday, so we needed some things laundered. However, I knew someday that it would pay off to always pack an excessive amount of underwear for both of us.

Too many details; I know, but this blog is also a record of events for me. :-)