Weekends are even less progressive at the rehab hospital than they were in critical care at the general hospital. Lower staff levels, no pulmonologist on duty, etc. So it was pretty uneventful clinically until evening. When I arrived after mass at 6:30, Tim told me he'd just shown a 101.5 degree temp. So they were drawing blood for another set of cultures and preparing to add an IV (but awaiting a doctor's phone order for it). By 7:40, his temp was 102. The doctor ordered a chest x-ray and another sputum culture. (Yesterday's had been a check for MRSA, or hospital-acquired staph infection; of course there are no results yet.)
When I left, I asked Tim to call me if the fever got worse or didn't go down. He called at 9:30 to say that all was well; he was down to 99, the x-ray had shown "pneumonia in the lower left lobe", and they were going to begin IV antibiotics (not zosyn)--given the state of his veins, they were sending somebody in from another hospital, possibly his original hospital, to start the IV. He also asked them to change his catheter, suspecting the possibility of yeast (even though yesterday's cultures had shown no UTI). He said he felt good.
So it feels like we're back to where we were two weeks ago. I'm just praying for a quiet, healthy Sunday and the chance to talk with Dr. P. and others on Monday.
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