Chest Infection

After walking into the mess and pain of yesterday morning I decided to stay last night. In the evening he remained restless. No major pain but irritable and looking like he was going to vomit. He wasn't the 'normal' Eth. He finally fell asleep and remained restless, tossing and turning most of the night. We had a few problems with the morphine infusion during the night so he woke in pain needing more oral morphine. This seemed to settle him well but then he started vomiting. This took a lot out of him.

The doctors came to assess him a couple of times today. It was decided to take a chest x-ray as his chest was now noisy. The x-ray showed a small patch of infection in the right side of his lungs. Not a big deal in a healthy person but as he is so compromised it could be some source of his pain. He has been started on oral antibiotics for this. If he spikes a temperature we will have to have discussions about further treatment.

He slept on and off during the morning. He was interactive with his talking but not his happy playful self. He then had a good sleep and woke a bit more playful. He had about an hour of being cheeky before he became irritable and in pain again. He finally went back to sleep when his pain was under control; 2 doses of oral morphine. He has remained asleep since then.

We are not sure if he was starting to get an infection (which didn't show up in initial tests) and thats why he has deteriorated or if he is getting infections now because he is so compromised with his cardiac function. What comes first the chicken or the egg? The answer doesn't really matter, treatment is still the same.

I am still hoping tomorrow will be a better day...