friday `s visit
Friday/September/2008 09:58 PM Barrie`s
BlogBarrie`s
Blog
Hi everybody
I'm sorry I couldn't do the 1st visit's update earlier.
Dad is sedated and sleeping constantly with just the occasional squeezing of his hand/fingers or twitching of his toes! Perhaps he's dreaming about going for a walk somewhere picturesque and tranquil - I hope so!.
The news that I have to report today is the worst we've had so far, but I have to stress that this "news" is actually two days old now, although today was the first we'd heard of it! Most importantly, Dad is stable.
As reported last night, Dad is now back on a ventilator. The reason for this is that he had lots of fluid building up around his lungs which was making it increasingly difficult for him to breathe. The situation then arose that they had to do dialysis very quickly to get rid of the fluid, as it then became an emergency because it was getting too hard for him to breathe. His body was unable to tolerate the fast, but critically necessary, dialysis and his blood pressure plummeted. Simultaneously, his heart rate dropped in tandem to the degree that his heart actually stopped. They obviously, thankfully, did manage to resuscitate poor Dad successfully but until I was told when I arrived today, we knew nothing about this.
In addition, a procedure had been carried out the same day to remove an infected tube and apparently what can sometimes happen is that bacteria can escape and get into the bloodstream and cause toxic shock syndrome which would also cause the sudden drop in blood pressure and related heart problems.
I'm not sure how much of a part the bacterial issue played - it may have been a combination of the two factors.
With such frightening and worrying news, I think it's important to focus on some positives to soften the blow a little.....
Whilst the hospital can't predict how long Dad will take to get back on track, their inclination is to believe it will be days, rather than weeks. They want to keep him asleep over the weekend to help his body recover and then they might start to reduce the sedative on Monday.
Given the gravity of today's news, the main thing to keep in the forefront of our minds is that throughout this awful ordeal, Dad has repeatedly defied the gods and pulled through some very difficult and worrying phases. It was a miracle that he even survived the impact, then the incredibly serious internal bleeding and now this. Somebody is definitely, definitely, watching over him and the list of people to thank for saving his life has grown (no more though, Dad, please!) It is indescribably heart-breaking seeing him back on the ventilator and sedated again, but at least these few days will have passed more comfortably and painlessly for him.
Dad had made the most amazing progress when those recent hospital photos were taken and I see no reason why he won't have fought his way back to that in a flash, knowing him. Everyone's positive thoughts will go a long way to getting the outcome we're all waiting to see.
More essays tomorrow!!!!!
Love and thanks to you all.
Natalie
I'm sorry I couldn't do the 1st visit's update earlier.
Dad is sedated and sleeping constantly with just the occasional squeezing of his hand/fingers or twitching of his toes! Perhaps he's dreaming about going for a walk somewhere picturesque and tranquil - I hope so!.
The news that I have to report today is the worst we've had so far, but I have to stress that this "news" is actually two days old now, although today was the first we'd heard of it! Most importantly, Dad is stable.
As reported last night, Dad is now back on a ventilator. The reason for this is that he had lots of fluid building up around his lungs which was making it increasingly difficult for him to breathe. The situation then arose that they had to do dialysis very quickly to get rid of the fluid, as it then became an emergency because it was getting too hard for him to breathe. His body was unable to tolerate the fast, but critically necessary, dialysis and his blood pressure plummeted. Simultaneously, his heart rate dropped in tandem to the degree that his heart actually stopped. They obviously, thankfully, did manage to resuscitate poor Dad successfully but until I was told when I arrived today, we knew nothing about this.
In addition, a procedure had been carried out the same day to remove an infected tube and apparently what can sometimes happen is that bacteria can escape and get into the bloodstream and cause toxic shock syndrome which would also cause the sudden drop in blood pressure and related heart problems.
I'm not sure how much of a part the bacterial issue played - it may have been a combination of the two factors.
With such frightening and worrying news, I think it's important to focus on some positives to soften the blow a little.....
Whilst the hospital can't predict how long Dad will take to get back on track, their inclination is to believe it will be days, rather than weeks. They want to keep him asleep over the weekend to help his body recover and then they might start to reduce the sedative on Monday.
Given the gravity of today's news, the main thing to keep in the forefront of our minds is that throughout this awful ordeal, Dad has repeatedly defied the gods and pulled through some very difficult and worrying phases. It was a miracle that he even survived the impact, then the incredibly serious internal bleeding and now this. Somebody is definitely, definitely, watching over him and the list of people to thank for saving his life has grown (no more though, Dad, please!) It is indescribably heart-breaking seeing him back on the ventilator and sedated again, but at least these few days will have passed more comfortably and painlessly for him.
Dad had made the most amazing progress when those recent hospital photos were taken and I see no reason why he won't have fought his way back to that in a flash, knowing him. Everyone's positive thoughts will go a long way to getting the outcome we're all waiting to see.
More essays tomorrow!!!!!
Love and thanks to you all.
Natalie