My 90-year-old dad has been in the hospital since May 22d

Bossy Monkey

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Tue Jun-07-11 09:52 AM
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My 90-year-old dad has been in the hospital since May 22d

Edited on Tue Jun-07-11 09:53 AM by Bossy Monkey

Early this year, my dad had a bad fall resulting in stitches to his head. As of late May (specifically, Sunday the 22d) he was having great difficulty getting around and thought he might have developed Parkinson's. That same day he fell again and my brother William had to call an ambulance. At the hospital they did a CAT scan and found he had a subdural hematoma on his brain. They weren't able to operate on the Monday, but did on the Tuesday. We had a stressful time waiting, but were glad to see him again and to find him lucid and intelligent-- in short, still in there.

Two days later, the 26th and my birthday, he had a seizure and stopped breathing for 3 minutes. Nobody told me about until that afternoon so I got to enjoy the first half of my birthday, and he recovered quickly and was again lucid, so the rest of my birthday was OK, too.

My brother and sister, both living in Boston, were able to visit for a while, which helped a lot. (Also her son, my nephew James, and his girlfriend.) My sister had to go back to have her gall bladder removed. (The Dantzler family is just having a great month for health problems.)

Dad got out of ICU and moved to a normal floor for physical therapy. Unfortunately, the physical therapy never went particularly well, as he had continuing trouble with bodily function control. Fast forward to yesterday. I was visiting and he seemed quite well. However, his stomach was very unsettled and he couldn't stop burping. Later, he started coughing and breathing quickly. A nurse came to check his blood sugar and was concerned about his breathing, especially when she asked for a deep breath and he couldn't do it.

Long story short, he got oxygen and a chest X-ray and further tests, and was moved to intermediate ICU. During the evening, it was difficult to understand anything he said through the oxygen mask, but at least he was doing better according to all staffers. He had low blood sugar troubles again but they got that back up. A respiratory therapist came in and put him on a bronchial dilator briefly. I left about 10. My sister (also a doctor) was able to talk to the duty nurse, and also to Dad. Apparently, his breathing got a lot better after I left thanks to the dilator. The respiratory therapist indicated that he might not have to be on oxygen anymore as of this morning.

What seems to have happened is he breathed in some of the fluid he had been burping up. So far they aren't giving him any antibiotics as for pneumonia. I did give them both my phone numbers before I left, so if anything bad had happened I would have heard about it by now. I'm hoping for the best and holding my worries in check as best I can. Looking forward to seeing him this afternoon. Any prayers, well wishes or white light you can spare are always welcome.

The above was originally an email to my friends who aren't on Facebook. If it doesn't make sense as a DU post, you have my apologies. I'm a bit frazzled (obviously).

More detail on the blog: http://ungodly-in-olympia.blogspot.com/