Skip to main content

Going home: déjà vu

It's official: I am being discharged today! It feels like I just did this... Three respiratory therapists came by to do my discharge test. First I had to breathe room air until my oxygen saturation came down to 87. We chatted for several minutes and my oxygen was holding steady. Finally, one of the therapists said it was taking a lot longer than anticipated for my oxygen to drop (we couldn't do the next step of the test until then), so I suggested that I could eat my chocolate chip cookie to see if that would lower my saturation. Sure enough. At that point, they hooked me up to 2L oxygen (with my heparin IV in tow) and I walked very slowly while pushing a wheelchair around the hospital floor. I did one loop and stayed above 90% saturation, so I passed my test! 

When I was admitted on Monday I was on 30L/minute oxygen and my heart rate was over 100. I'm now on 2-3L/minute and my heart is back to normal range. I feel so much better, but I know it will take time to get my strength back.

I am now just waiting for paperwork so I can go home. The various infection tests have all come back negative so far, but others are still pending. I will be taking Prednisone for lung inflammation and Eliquis for blood clots. Now I just have to wait until my oncology appointment on August 30 to determine whether/when I can go back on Tagrisso. That is the big unknown.

~~~~~

Having seen so many Impressionist paintings while we were in Europe, I commented to Lily that if I were an artist I would paint the view from my hospital window at various times of the day. "Like Van Gogh at the mental institution?" she said. Exactly. The view changes dramatically depending on the light and clouds. Here are 2 more shots from yesterday.






Comments

  1. NickyAugust 19, 2022 at 3:18 PM

    YAY!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 19, 2022 at 3:32 PM

    Wonderful news!!! Please take it easy when you get home. Happy with the thought you’ll see Lily off to school Tuesday. Leah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Esther PrinsAugust 21, 2022 at 7:31 AM

      Thank you, Leah. Yes, I was wondering about being able to take first day of school pics on Tuesday...

      Delete
  3. AnonymousAugust 19, 2022 at 3:46 PM

    highly suggest submitting your work to this European curator's site for clouds above the stadium
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/144153015@N07/galleries/72157714031951613/
    -david

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousAugust 19, 2022 at 4:34 PM

    Missing you!!! Thinking about you!!!
    ~Emily

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousAugust 19, 2022 at 4:40 PM

    Hi. Its ALIX. So happy to hear this. Glad you are leaving the hospital!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousAugust 19, 2022 at 5:41 PM

    👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 (Andy)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Christian BradyAugust 19, 2022 at 8:32 PM

    So pleased to hear you are headed back home! I don’t post a comment everyday, but we are praying for you every day!

    ReplyDelete
  8. AlisaAugust 19, 2022 at 10:41 PM

    Beautiful pictures for a beautiful day!! So happy to hear this good news! God continues to take care of you. He has never left you! Please take it easy. 🙏🏽 Be a Queen and don’t exert a lot of energy. Let people dote on you. 😁 wish I was close to be more available. One day at a time you’ll be better. For now relax as you bask in being at home. Hugs 🤗

    ReplyDelete
  9. Carol CAugust 20, 2022 at 6:52 AM

    Great news. Ready for some fish tacos?

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousAugust 20, 2022 at 11:42 AM

    So glad to hear you are back home again! We hope to see you strolling on the block soon! -M&M&S&A

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousAugust 20, 2022 at 12:02 PM

    That is awesome news Esther! Love the views, but glad you will get some new ones! Henson

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Esther PrinsAugust 21, 2022 at 7:35 AM

      Yes, I'll take the views from my house any day.

      Delete
  12. Irene & DeanAugust 20, 2022 at 7:42 PM

    We're thanking God with you for your discharge from the hospital to be back home!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Healthcare costs and insurance woes and victories

Those of you who have read this blog from the beginning may recall my posts about how inexpensive healthcare is in Germany compared to the US. I now have additional proof. I've been receiving "explanation of benefits" statements from Aetna detailing the cost of my hospital stays and other healthcare services since the end of July. Close your eyes and guess how much these amount to. Higher. No, higher. Still higher. Well over $200,000. Of that, I have paid maybe $100 plus some $20-30 co-pays for doctor's visits. Add to that my cancer and blood thinner medications, which would cost about $16,000 per month without insurance. I have no idea what people in my situation do if they are uninsured or under-insured. My recent interaction with one of my German doctors illustrates another stark difference. Before leaving Germany, I had asked my doctor what to do if I received bills from the LungenClinic after we had moved and closed our Deutsche Bank account (all bills in Germany...
15 comments
Read more

A failure of institutional care

I just hit "send" on this letter to my dean and associate dean. Mic drop. I've never sent such a scathing letter, but it's definitely called for in this situation. I'm not expecting anything other than a "Oh, that wasn't how we intended to make you feel; our hands were tied" email. Dear Dean Lawless and Associate Dean Lloyd, When I wrote to Professor Land [my department head] to see if I could get a course release this fall due to having lung cancer plus complications from pulmonary embolism and COVID, I had no idea what I was in for. When faculty friends in other colleges have had health crises (ones that don’t warrant a full-semester medical leave), their department head or dean has simply said, “Don’t worry about teaching this semester. We’ll figure it out.” I figured the same would happen in my case. To be blunt, the way that my case was handled was a colossal failure of leadership. As my husband and I have shared my story with colleagues at PSU ...
26 comments
Read more

regular update

I had my regular oncology appointment in Pittsburgh yesterday. Dr. Villaruz said the scans look good and everything is stable. Although I don’t have much scanxiety nowadays, it’s always a relief to get good news. Just to be sure that my understanding was correct, I asked her why I’m not a candidate for surgery. It’s because of the cancer’s growth pattern. The one nodule that’s visible on the CT scan could just be scarring; she’s not sure if it’s a tumor. When I was diagnosed, I was told the lung cancer was “lepidic.” This means that the tumor cells were growing along the lining of the alveolar structures (air sacs).* That’s why my lungs looked like they were draped in cobwebs. You can’t do surgery in enough places to get all of it. Thankfully, Tagrisso swept out those cobwebs – and continues to do so. We go back in December for a regular appointment. *Lepidic spread tends to be slow-growing, with minimal invasion of nearby tissues, less chance of metastasis, and overall better progno...
10 comments
Read more