Bi Pap

This morning I found Carl worse than when I left him yesterday. He was running another fever and is very sick. As the day progressed the fever broke. Thank goodness for that however, his respiration rate is very high and they called for another Xray and blood gases. They have moved him to another semi isolation room on the 5th floor in Respiratory. His antibiotics have been stepped up to meet a broader range of infections. He was seen by another couple of Doctors. As one of them put it, "You are not out of the wood, you are in it." They are very concerned and have put him on a BiPap Ventilatory Support System which will help him breathe. This is a very tight fitting mask with head gear to hold it on. It is claustrophobic to say the least. It forces air into his lungs so he doesn't have to try so hard to breathe. He can neither blow his nose, take a drink of water or use the phone while it is on. They will take it off every couple of hours and switch to the other mask to give him a break. The lungs are a tremendous organ. We don't use a fraction of their capacity. When we get a cold or infection we have all the reserve capability to help us continue to breathe. With interstitial lung disease you loose that reserve capability. As my mother said, "We didn't sign-up for this."