Pauline spent the night in the ER.  After doing an EKG and taking some blood work, it was determined she was anemic.  Anemia is what happens when your hemoglobin (red blood cells) is low.  It means that the blood can’t carry oxygen to the rest of the body.  For Pauline, that meant fatigue dizziness, low blood pressure, palpations and a very pale complexion.  It is often caused by internal bleeding.  They did an ultrasound and didn’t find anything.  Then they decided to do a CT scan.  Pauline is allergic to the iodine contrast so they had to pump her full of prednisone for a couple of hours.  The CT scan showed nothing.

The remedy to losing blood is to replenish it.  She was given 2 units of blood.  For some reason, Pauline had an allergic reaction to the first bag of blood and had to be given a double dose of Benadryl.  The second bag was fine.  By 9:30 the next day, she was ready to come home.

A few hours later, Pauline had her first Physical Therapist visit.  She did great.  It was mostly an assessment meeting.  He gave us some good tips for walking, icing, standing, sitting, and a few other important steps to Pauline’s recovery.

And Cindy?  She lost power in her home yesterday.  That meant no air conditioners or fans and it was very hot (for Northern California).  Thankfully, all her oxygen tanks were full.

That’s it for now!