Trip turn around

The past two weeks since Albuquerque have been something of a whirl, and what was the great Noden Road Trip has become more of the Noden emergency room visits. After our arrival in Albuquerque Barbara became ill, and so on the morning after our arrival there, on Sunday, June 7 I took her to Presbyterian Hospital, in downtown Albuquerque, and we spent the rest of the day there while she underwent several diagnostic tests.

The ultimate diagnosis was that she was suffering from acute altitude sickness, complicated by an existing bronchial congestion brought on by a cold. The prescription was twofold. One, a prescription for a substance containing steroids to reduce the chances of brain and/or lung edema, and two, a prompt return to lower altitudes.

After a careful review of the altitudes involved in the balance of the trip, we cancelled the rest of the itinerary including Grand Canyon & Lake Havasu in Arizona, and Bryce, Zion and Arches National parks in Utah and went to visit Alexandra and Martin in Boulder, Colorado. We spent several days there, resting and enjoying the quiet before the wedding, and then after realizing that Barbara was not improving we decided to return home via the shortest possible route to sea level climes. Barbara was very reluctant to leave Boulder because it meant that we would miss the wedding of Basho and Amanda, which was the primary reason for the road trip.

On the way home we made yet another ER stop in Limon, Colorado, to get a prescription for an oral fungal infection, ("Thrush") that Barbara developed while in Boulder. We did not know it then, but this was the result of a steroid induced spike in her blood glucose levels.

After reaching Abilene on the evening of Wednesday, June 17, we spent the night in a local motel, and the following morning it quickly became apparent that Barbara was not doing well. Accordingly, I brought her to Memorial Hospital, and after a long morning session involving many tests in the ER, she was admitted to the hospital. A "perfect storm" of cascading events and conditions, including high glucose levels, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, oral infection, etc, convinced the doctors that she should be kept here until systemic stability could be achieved. Thus, we have spent the last three days and two nights here trying to achieve that condition.

At the time of this writing we are expecting that Barbara will be sufficiently recovered to be discharged on Sunday, June 21. If so, we will make haste to return home.