View from the hospital...

...waiting area. Tom got up about 5:45 this morning to get something to drink, became really weak and shaky and headed for the couch to lay down, but he thought he was closer than he was; he missed the couch but luckily landed on his butt without hitting his head. His falling woke me up, and I ran out to the living room to find him on the floor. I had the hardest time getting him onto the couch as his legs just weren't working right. As I helped him up I thought he felt really hot; he said he was fine but I knew he had a fever so I took his temp. and it was 101.2. I called the on-call nurse for the cancer center who then called the doctor who was on-call to see what she wanted to do. While I waited for the nurse to call back I got dressed, as I knew they'd want me to bring him in. I re-checked his temp and it was 102.4, his blood pressure was low and his pulse and respirations were fast. She said to bring him into the 24 hour Cancer Care area rather than the E.R.  I debated calling an ambulance as I didn't know how I'd get him to the car, but I eventually got him there, though it wasn't easy. They did various cultures and a chest x-ray; he has a little infiltrate in his lungs, so they're thinking he has the beginning of pneumonia. They admitted him and gave him a liter of Normal Saline IV over an hour, then an IV antibiotic, then IV magnesium and he finally felt better. The on-call Dr. came in to see him--Tom had her the last time he was admitted and we both liked her so much--and she told him if he wanted to say hi to her he could call the office, and that he didn't have to get himself admitted just to see her which made him laugh. She sat down and talked to us for a long time to make sure all our questions were answered, and to explain what orders she'd written, and to give us the lab results. A long and tiring day, but he's in good hands so I finally left and came home. (The buildings in the picture are part of the Wisconsin Lutheran College Campus.)