Eric McAllister Updates

Per Eric's last blog post, he has continued to work on breathing while walking. Here's a video of him working on it.

Suzanne sent me the blog she posted last night. It was the first blog I had been able to read so far, and I can't express how appreciative I was of her blog. But, so much moreso, I need to express to everyone my deep appreciation to my dear wife these past few weeks - for her constant, unwavering love and support, her tireless efforts to keep me and everyone else updated on this covid/pneumonia ordeal, to keep home and family matters current, and to manage 101 other issues that need to be addressed - all without complaint or any sign of distress. I want you all to know deeply I love and appreciate my dear wife, Suzanne. I also want to reconfirm again my deep appreciation to all of you for your love, prayers, faith, and thoughts. There has not been many times the past few weeks when my mobile wasn't receiving some kind of message from one of you - encouraging, coaching, pushing, praying, loving, and most of all believing that I could turn the corner and make it home. I hav...

Eric came home one week ago today. He brought with him, three oxygen tanks that technically would help him for several hours. That evening, an oxygen service brought a unit that is powered by electricity with 50 foot tubing that connectsd with his cannula. He can reach the kitchen, family room, office, bedroom and bathroom upstairs. For the past week, Eric has been proactively decreasing his oxygen intake and working on walking slowly around the house. He needs to rest often, but also can't stand to sit for such long periods. Some of the unpleasant side effects he is experiencing are swelling in his neck, blood clots in his nose which clog and then are expelled in a continuous cycle, his digestive system is struggling to normalize and weight loss. Today after looking at his ribs through his skin I brought in the scale and asked him to step on it. He has lost over 40 lbs! His legs look skinnier than mine, that's not ok! Despite the setbacks, he is progressing in the r...

From Eric: "Well, today was another day of blessings and some wonderful nmiracles. Last night was a tough night because I strained one of my lung muscles coughing earlier in the day; so every breath of sleep was pretty painful. I woke up with my oxygen intake level at 8 liters, which was far too high for me to wish to be released home. I knew the intake level needed to get to at least 4 liters for them to even consider letting me get ready to go home. But I desperately wanted to try to go home today, because I knew that my body was atrophying too quickly after more than three weeks of Covid and Pneumonia. And I needed to get back home with my family. So I started my morning with some fervent prayers, recalling the faith and fasting of so many of my family, friends and loved ones on my behalf I also started working on my breathing and keeping my blood oxygen level at least 90%. Finally around 11 am, two of the doctors came in to review my vitals and my current condition. M...

Yesterday was another good day. In some respects, it was tough, but overall a good day. Eric started the day at requiring 14% intake. By mid-day, it was lowered down to 8%. Good news is that he woke up, still with 8% intake and maintaining above 90%. Today his goal is to reduce the intake to 4%. He's learning how to relax his breaths and breathe slowly. The nurse had to rebuild a new IV port on his arm and it took her about five tries to finally get a good vein with her needle. He felt bad for her, but all good in the end. Ultimately he continues to be amazed at the love and literal support of our Heavnely Father and Savior throughout this experience. They have been carrying him through some tough times where he has been ready to just give up and say "I can't go on and breathe another breath or keep holding onto hope." He continues to be so grateful (and so do I) for the many prayers, thoughts, and well-wishes from so many. (We have family and friends from...

More good news today. I think we will not need too many more posts as miracles and healing are present. Last night he went to sleep requiring 14 liters at 15%. Today they lowered it to 10 liters. He still has congestion, is no longer "isolated" and is days away from coming home. His pneumonia is steadily improving, but he still requires a few more days of antibiotics. He repeatedly tells me to thank everyone for the prayers, fasting and encouragement.

This was a great day for Eric. He has been moved out of the PCU back onto the 'regular' Covid floor. They have decreased his oxygen from 45 liters at 15% down to 15 liters/minute at 15%. He is maintaining the desired levels above 90%. As he was telling me this, he started getting emotional which then made him dip to 88%, so he had to pause, relax until it came back up. He is beyond grateful for the fasting and prayers of so many family members and friends. Thank you so much. He doesn't want to get too hopeful that he can leave the hospital soon, but he is nonetheless.

Eric had a good night and is optimistic. He writes: "Pretty good day so far; slept decently well last night, and my breathing is doing pretty well so far. Some good news: unbeknownst to me, yesterday afternoon, they dropped my oxygen intake down from 90% to 80% and I maintained high oxygen blood levels the rest of the evening until now. The nurse just took a look at my vitals this morning, and she decided to drop my oxygen intake down to 75%, which I am really happy about; and she said they may take me down to 70% later today. So, I am happy about this progress; and I want to express a significant amount of gratitude for: all of the many faith, thoughts, prayers to God, by so many family members, loved ones, and dear friends; I particularly appreciate the Fast in which many have engaged today on my behalf; and know that the faith and prayers offered by so many will be answered by our Heavenly Father. Please convey my sincerest gratitude and deep love to everyone" Again, tha...

Today was another good day for Eric. He was dissappointed that they didn't turn down the oxygen flow a little more. He is maintaining his levels above 90. He is feeling better and talking more clearly. Despite a gazillion cords/monitors wraped all over him, it was nice to fianlly have his own pillows from home. The drs. took a sample of his phlegm a few days ago and they were able to test it and modify/create an adjusted antibiotic that will help accelerate the destruction of the particular virus in his body. Today he started on that special cocktail and is feeling much better. He's fighting to improve each day. Thank you again for all your prayers and encouraging words.

This morning the Dr. said that Erc's vital signs are strong and his conditions are holding well. His white blood cell count is down, and his inflammation is holding. At this stage he has stabilized and is holding well. Eric's covid symptoms in his body are gone - no pain, fatigue, etc. His lungs are the damaged part now, so the next few days' focus is on making improvements to the health of his lungs. This will not be a quick fix at all; it's going to require steady and slow improvements every day. He has already made some great improvements and he just needs to hold onto those gains and continue to get better every day. Because of his gains and stabilization, they have taken his oxygen flow levels down to 85% from 100% (Last night I indicated that they took it down to 65%...so I stand corrected), and are keeping your oxygen liter flow at 45. Now the key for him is to maintain blood oxygen levels at 90% or above so that they can continue to reduce his oxygen l...

Today was a good day. He is still in the PCU and still on heated high flow. He is still receiving blood thinners, steroids, and antibiotics. His arms are all bruised up. The nurse said that they were going to try and decrease the flow from 100% to 65% and keep the 45 liters/minute. He was able to maintain a 95% oxygen level! They also decreased his steroid intake from 125 mg. down to 60 mg. It will be a couple of days before we know the outcome. His white blood count came down, so were happy with the results of today. I talked with Eric twice today. Both times he seemed a little out of breath, but so much better. He has been given tasks to do each day to help himself heal: Sleeping on his stomach or 'proning' is one way to improve his lung function and allows him to take deeper breaths. He can handle it for about two hours at a time. He has requested his two favorite pillows. He also has to breathe into a plastic spirometer, where he has to blow in slowly and kee...

Eric reports that when he wakes up, he feels well. But after an hour or so, breathing becomes difficult, and he gets tired very quickly. The nurse called and said that overall he is maintaining his numbers and that he was just a little worse as she observed and interacted with him. The doctor said, no more monkeys jumping on the bed..jk the doctor actually said Eric was neither worse or better. he is still on heated high flow at 100%. He still is on high doses of steriods He is still unable to get out of bed. He is still requiring antibiotics.

 Dad had a good night last night meaning he is not any worse, but he's also not any better. His white blood count was probably the only thing of significance to report- they did find a high white blood count, meaning that he could have that bacterial infection in his lungs. But a couple days ago that count was 11.93, yesterday it was 9.59, and today it went up to 10.5. So it's not the highest he's had but he seems to be hovering around that area. His lab work looks good. He doesn't have a lot of energy. He has a long way to go still. And they want him to start sleeping on his stomach. Which at first sounded funny because that is how he sleeps here. But I can see the struggle as it is harder to sleep with all of the oxygen mask/equipment and stuff like that. He's in the right place and getting the care he needs.

 The nurse just called, they are transferring him to the PCU/progressive care unit. He will have more care and more eyes on his numbers. This is what I was afraid of. The next stage would be the ICU. After our morning conversation, his oxygen levels dropped and the nurses realized that he was very anxious and gave him something for that. He is currently on heated high flow oxygen. If he can get down to oxygen with a nasal cannula less than 4 L, he could actually come home with tanks. Pneumonia is neither worse nor better today. Without another CT scan, we don't know any changes in the air in his chest cavity, but for now it looks like he will not need surgery. He's been put on a preventative antibiotic for a bacterial infection. 

 Here's an update on dad: he's not doing as well today. They increased his heated high-flow oxygen back up to 60L at 100%. The infectious disease coordinator has ordered another CAT scan of his lungs to see how his pneumonia is doing and to rule out a blood clot. With covid, blood cots are common, so they have been giving him a blood thinner which comes in the form of two shots a day in his stomach. If they found a blood clot they would increase the dosage.  Dad is anxious and scared and with that anxiety, his oxygen levels go down. So it's a vicious cycle he needs to stay at rest and stay calm for his numbers to go up. He is being given something for anxiety. In order to get the CAT scan he's on so much oxygen that he cannot travel from his room to the CAT scan without a CPAP and a respiratory therapist must accompany him.  He's not eating he's not hungry so the nurse is going to make him a protein milkshake using chocolate ice cream to get some protein/calorie...

Friday April 30th: Positive Covid Test Sunday, May 2nd: Admitted (Day 1) Day 3- 2L/min oxygen Day 4- Wednesday, May 5th: "The steroid has really helped me- I have been feeling a lot better; slept good last night and no aches or pains; the hospital infectious diseases dr/specialist came by to visit me last night; we had a very good discussion; am still on oxygen assist, and he told me that I can go home when I can breathe (whether coughing or just at normal resting) at oxygen blood levels of 90 or above - but that needs to be without oxygen assist; so, I need to have my lungs be able to breathe normally at 90 or above and then I can go home; I hope its today, but may not be til tomorrow or Friday..." "Today has been an active day; my oxygen assist was significantly raised earlier today, as my blood oxygen levels have been dropping since I woke this morning; there's a battle going on in my lungs, with the antibodies trying to kill the viruses, and its causing a fair bi...