Al is in the Hospital

Portland

Well, we have made it this far -- and now we are stopped!

Al wasn't feeling well on Tuesday night, but he thought he was just tired. Yesteday morning he woke up grumpier than usual....and things went down hill from there. We left Seattle about 11:00 a.m. but before we left, Al was sick to his stomach, but he insisted it was nothing and lets go! We got as far as the first rest stop on I-5 and had to stop for him to go to the bathroom and we stopped at every other rest stop along the way. We stopped in Chehalis to have lunch with an old friend and I could see that Al was having a real hard time contolling his bladder and he was pretty shakey. By the time we got to Portland, he had lost all bladder control and was very weak. I tried all yesterday evening and into last night to get him into the doctor, but according to him "HE WASN'T SICK", he was just tired. In the middle of the night he fell, and it was all I could do to get him up from the floor. By this morning, he was very weak and was still saying he wasn't going to the doctor -- so I gave him a choice...either I took him to ER or I called 911! Finally he agreed to go to the hospital. However, I have to say he was grumbling all the way that he wasn't sick...ya, right! To make a long story longer, as my brother says, Al is in the hospital with a severe Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) and congestive heart failure. His blood pressure when he was admitted was 200/111; fever at 102.9; heart rate at 120; none of it good. And he was very, very confused. Couldn't tell the ER staff where he was, what day it was, or answer any simple questions. He was immediately hooked up to all monitors, and I was told to leave the room for the time being...which was understandable...there wasn't enough room in there for me and all the equipment and ER staff!!!! He was finally moved into a room this afternoon and will be in the hospital for at least 3 days, or longer and I have no idea when they will let him travel. When I left him he was resting comfortably, pumped full of antibiotics, pain killers, etc.

He is in Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center, Gresham, Oregon, room 333, Phone 503-674-1333. The doctor has asked no phone calls to his room for at least 24 hours.

I am hanging in there... but it has been a stressful few days! At least he is getting the proper care now and maybe we both can get some sleep.

I will keep you posted with progress reports...and you can call me any time at 425-985-7993.

We did have a good trip up until that time. We went to Seattle on Friday; had an uneventful trip over and got set up in the RV Park in Everett. On Saturday we went to the memorial service for Roger Witt. It was a very moving service and a lot of my Boeing co-workers were there. It was good to see them, but the reason wasn't the best. Sunday we got together with Ric, Janet, Cammie, Sherrie and Mike Tangen and fiance Nancy. Monday we did the doctor appointments, had lunch with friends Frank and Lynn Conger and dinner with Bill and Laurie Lince. Tuesday was more doctors and then dinner with Ted and Nona Abber and Nancy and Eric Willliams...so we did get to see some friends while we were there. The weather was beautiful while we were in Seattle and I will say it again, there is nothing prettier than Seattle on a sunny day!

I will keep you posted with progress reports...and you can call me any time at 425-985-7993.