Dad Update

[jeriendhal]

Let me put it to you all this way: I'm glad I'm writing this today rather than yesterday, because they couldn't have been more opposite letters. Yesterday (Sunday) was a very hard day for my Mom. Recently the doctors had given my Dad some medication to break up mucus that had been stuck in his lungs since after his operation. I came in just as he was being transported back to his room after a chest x-ray. He had been asleep all morning, and stayed asleep during the whole procedure, and apparently had only awakened long enough to get upset with a nurse when she came to suction his lungs (he's too weak to cough the gunk up). So when I saw him he was breathing very badly, was not awake, and had this horrible *tremble* that was wracking his body. We get back to his room, and Mom finds a ventilator has been installed next to his bed, which just set her off (since the last thing Dad wanted to be is back on that damned thing.)

She's been a rock (at least when I've seen her) for the past three weeks, ever since Dad went into the hospital. Now she just broke down crying. I got a more clear picture of Mom's state of mind from my sister, Robin, and apparently she's really at the end of her rope, and who could blame her? Dad has been so weak that she's been literally spoon-feeding what little he did want to eat. He's gotten so thin that his dentures no longer fit properly in his mouth. And even though he's been off all pain medication for more that a week, he's still been pretty much incoherent since his operation. The doctors say that he's just still moving the medicine and anesthetics from the operation out of his system (his post-op brain MRI read normal) but it's still frightening to see him like that. So yesterday was pretty much the last straw, even if the nurses said the ventilator was just for nights while he gets the crap out of his lungs

So today I walk in during my lunch hour, wondering what I'd see.

Dad was upright in bed, still gurgling like hell, but sufficiently "there" to HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH (even if it was a bit wacky. He thought the microwaveable heating pad on my arm was a bag of rice before I corrected him). Better still he was able to suck down an entire protein drink AND a bowl of tomato soup, which is as close to a full meal as he's had for quite a while. If they can get the rest of the crud out of his lungs, he'll be going to a full time rehab center so he can regain the strength to move around on his own, which is more than I'd thought I'd have any right to expect.

Like I said, a much better day.

Comments

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

I know just how this is, as that's how it was with my grandfather. However, he was very much permanently declining, and I pray your dad is not in the same situation.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I've got no illusions that he's going to magically spring back into full health. He's nearly 83, and has survived lung cancer, heart troubles, a cancerous growth on his spine (that spurred the need for the operation that caused this current crisis), and an ongoing round of minor illnesses that have landed him in the hospital at least six times in the past two years. Every crisis has taken a little more out of him. Right now my only hope is that he somehow manages to regain enough strength to at least enjoy his remaining days in relative comfort. :/