#ivgv

I got a call today from my husband and he said that he was in the hospital in Huntsville. Then, he gave the phone over to a nurse to speak to me. I gave her the history of Fred’s health since last spring. She said a neurologist would be calling he. He did call and I repeated much of what I had already said. 

I was out the door and on the way to the hospital. When I got there, I was met by one of my husband’s supervisors. He updated me on what had happened. Fred had been in the passenger seat of an 18 wheeler when he began to feel bad. He said that he needed air and started to roll down the window when he slumped over, passed out. The driver was a trainee and he did not hesitate to take Fred to the nearest hospital. Apparently, he ran into the hospital to tell them about Fred and six or seven people came running out of the ER to help. 

Fred says he does not think that he passed out. I don’t know. I do know that he was still wearing his boots and jeans with the hospital gown because he thought he was going to get to come home with me. Nope, not gonna happen. 

The neurologist said that Fred would need some IVGV transfusions and this hospital was not equipped to do it. He would be transferred to the Woodlands or down to the medical center in Houston where there were many neurologists familiar with myasthenia gravis and how to treat it. 

When I left this evening I had not heard where he was going to go because even with the nurses calling around, there are few beds to be found due to covid. I don’t know if that meant there were too many patients or if it meant that there was limited staff on duty due to covid mandates. 

Myasthenia Gravis is a really big name, isn’t it? One of my former bosses’ wife has it and I had learned some about how it affects a person through the things he would come to work and talk about. Since I have known him, she has really gone downhill healthwise and I know it is hard on both of them.

December 16, 2021. Fred called me and told me that he was in the ER at St. Luke’s. He was not feeling well and left work, drove himself to the hospital and was already triaged before he called me. 

Long story short. He was given CTs, X-rays, MRIs, and just about every test a person can have to test for a stroke. But, it wasn’t a stroke. He had been having a hard time swallowing and he was choking on food here and there. He was admitted for the next eight days. It was determined that he had myasthenia gravis based on observation and testing. There was one test where if the score was 5 or higher it meant he did have MG. His score was 20. The began an infusion regimen and had a speech therapist come to visit, as his voice had begun to sound raspy and he slurred almost every word. A b would sound like an m and many other letters could not be distinguished when he spoke, so it was frustrating to him to have to repeat everything several times and have people still not understand what he was trying to say.

He got to come home on Christmas Eve. By this time he had undergone 4 rounds of IVGV and was able to eat a soft diet without choking very often. He was 200 pounds when he went in the hospital.