Pneumonia Part IV - November 15th -16th

So John was in a regular room on Saturday. John's pulmonologist was concerned that John wasn't getting better a fast as he should be. He was going to look into a couple of things and get back with us. The weather put on an amazing show....giant snow flakes....flying by a ninth floor window over Ottowa Park, absolutely AMAZING.
You might not know that Saturday night is family night at the Rapp's. The girls were excited that this tradition could continue in the hospital. They got to see their dad! Happy, happy girls....six days without dad, teary eyed dad and weary, weary mom. Paige definitely couldn't figure out all of the stuff that John had attached to him. No hugs, just a kiss. Syd moved right in and snuggled up with her daddy. Kate who had a chance to visit John in the ICU was very impressed with his newer accomodations settled into the chair next to him and kept herself busy. I also took the girls down to the cafeteria. You would have thought that they were in heaven.....fries, ice cream, hamburgers, and a salad bar for Syd! Wooooooohooooo!
Sunday was our annual ward(congregation for those of you who don't speak Mormon) primary program and I didn't want to miss it. Kate and Sydney were ready with their parts. Leslie Pershing came along for crowd control and moral support. The program was great! My favorite part was that I wasn't responsible for any of it. I served in primary for over 11 years and boy was it a lot more fun to watch. Here are two of the great qoutes from the kids....keep in mind that the kids are asked to answer a question that they studied in class during the year and write their own parts.....names have been removed to protect the identity of my funny little friends.
A very fun yet serious 11 years old.....reading question....."Why is prayer important to me?".....long dramatic pause....."hmmmmmm".........really there was an answer but by the time it came I was giggling so hard! I've always loved a dramatic pause, that pause was a masterpiece.
One of our funnier littler ones...6 years old...reading with teacher assistance, "I know Heavenly Father loves me because?"......whispered into the microphone to his teacher."SO WHAT"S THE ANSWER?"
Then my phone rang. Does everyone hate when phones ring in church, a play or the movie? Well I do! I always turn off my ringer, leaving it on vibrate and cringe for my friends who foget to turn off theirs. I quietly answered Hello.....Hold on honey....and left the chapel. John had called to let me know they had found fluid around his lungs(empyema) and they would need to drain it. One bonus for John was that the shaking treatment to dislodge his pneumonia would also shake up the fluid so that treatment would be discontinued until they figured out what to do about the fluid. I had about an hour before the doctor would come in to talk with us. I arranged to send my girls off with friends....a special thanks to the Ethingtons, Millers, and Pershings.
Meanwhile I made it back to the hospital. We waited but not too long. Our pulmonologist came in and explained that we had three options that would only be excuted if necessary...
1. Use a ultrasound to locate the fluid and remove it through a needle, done in your hospital room. This was the plan. Easy, mostly painless this was the hoped for outcome.
2. Use a CT Scan to guide the procedure and have the fluid drained through a needle in radiology John's pulmonologist would be there to oversee everything. Less easy but still mostly painless.
3. Surgery to remove fluid, scrape the lining of the lungs, and insert chest tubes to help it drain.
Option one in room happened in the afternoon around 1:30p.m.. The radiologist couldn't find the fluid. The doctor didn't see what he saw on the xray. That didn't mean it wasn't there but that there wasn't a large enough pocket to see by ultrasound. So next on to the CT Scan. John was escorted to Radiology...when they didn't page the doctor I was hopeful that the xray had been wrong. John said that he felt fine and didn't have a hard time breathing. John's LPN Mike went with us he kept checking to make sure that John wasn't hurting. I discovered that Mike's daughter, who is cute as a button, is in the same kindergarten class as Sydney. Small world isn't it! An hour later Dr Jacobs, pulmonologist, came in to say that the fluid and infection was in many very small pockets around his lungs and John would need surgery. Not to worry this surgery would most likely take place on Tuesday. Surgeons schedule was full for Monday and the surgeons would glance at his chart today but work him in on Tuesday. WHO, besides John Rapp, get's surgery for Pneumonia? The doctor left and this is when I fell to pieces. I was tired with a capital T. Add to this that John had a hard time waking up from his last surgery five years ago. I sat on his bed and cried. I did not want him not to wake up from this surgery. This fear was so overpowering. I got myself together and went to collect my girls and go home for the night. On the way home John called and told me that they had scheduled the surgery for the next morning at 7a.m. I took a left instead of a right on Central and went back to the hospital. Hospitals don't usually do anything at a fast pace.....we've waited hours and hours for doctors, nurses, tests and results....but in the space of 35 minutes a surgeon had looked at his chart and scheduled his surgery first on Monday! This increased my level of panic but I wanted the girls to get to see their dad for a while before he was off limits in ICU again. This time the girls were a little more crazy and I was a lot more tired. I took them home around 8pm and called in reinforcements. I asked Leslie and Charlene to cover for me again. I knew that I had to be at the hospital at 6:30a.m. So after a few phone calls to give the 411 to everyone, off I went to bed. With a little more peace in my heart thanks to all of my friends.