Baby Steps
Things are still going REALLY slow. Dad is still sedated & on the ventilator. He developed abdominal bleeding and spiked a 103.5 temp Monday morning. All cultures have come back negative to this point. A full body CT was done, and it did show a little something in the stomach, but it was caught early and is being treated conservatively. It is possible it was caused by tube feeding. The bleeding slowed considerably by Monday evening and has now stopped. He continues to battle the fever. It goes up & down, but just won't go away.
Today the respiratory therapist did some breathing tests today to see if Dad is ready to be weaned from the ventilator. At this point he is only handling 25-30 minutes before he is taking too many breaths per minute. There is a very real possibility he will be having a tracheostomy. I know this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I would much rather have him off the ventilator.
I have been at the hospital nearly all day every day since after my dad went into surgery last Monday. Today was the first time I have left and not returned for an evening visit. While Dad is constantly on my mind, it feels good to be at home and not sitting at the hospital. I am so tired that I think I might be in bed by 8:00 tonight.
I thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers!
6 comments:
I'm glad you took a break. It's okay to do that. You need the time away.
xoxo
I am glad that you updated...still sending prayers your way.
Keep yourself healthy! We used to bring bottled water to the hospital to avoid loading up on soda.
The time away was good!
This is a small hospital that specializes in everything heart related. There are 30 beds (soon they will be adding 10 more). Each suite, as they call them, has ten beds. In each suite there is an area where family members can help themselves to soda, water, coffee, tea, soup, crackers, cookies, etc. It's really nice. I have never been to a hospital that provided anything for family of a patient to eat/drink. The nurses are constantly asking if we need anything. The care at this hospital is unbelievably good.
The soda is all caffeine free so that is a great deterrent. We have been loading up on the water which makes for lots of trips to the bathroom...lol!
{{{{{PENNY}}}}}}
I am praying for your dad and for your family at this time....i am so sorry that your dad is going thru this. yes, it's ok to take a break and take care of you. hang in there hon.
Wishing you all well and sending many, many hugs.
I hope you got some rest and I pray for your dad to have a full recovery. Take care and you are in my thoughts daily.
xoxo
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