Thursday Nov. 11, 2010

Papa is doing SO much better! He ate breakfast well, he was pretty tired today because the therapists worked him pretty hard yesterday. They removed the catheter, the infectious disease specialist (Dr. Skanky - Yes, that really is his name :0) has identified the bacteria and is treating it with the appropriate antibiotics. The Dr. is talking about moving him to a rehab center so that he can get some of his strength back before he comes home. So, things are moving in a very positive direction. I am leaving tomorrow to go back home. The nurse said that the surgeon and the nurses were remarking about the amazing progress that he has made since I have been here and that his vital signs are always stable when I am there with him. (No pressure!) My poor kids need me to go home, at least for a while. I personally think that when I am there the nurses don't have to work as hard :0) I change his bedding, adjust his leads, sanitize everything, use the suction machine when he coughs, keep him comfortable, adjust pillows and blankets, help him change his gown etc... Once I leave then they have to "get back to work". Sometimes when I am there, we don't see a nurse in the room for hours. I really hope that is not the case when I go home. Our Primary program is on Sunday, I am looking forward to that, I would be sad to miss it, even though my dad is asking me to stay... sigh! On another note, we got a message from the state hospital that Krista ended up in locked seclusion for 20 minutes yesterday (Wed.) She was being really hyper and when they tried to re-direct her Krista started hitting and kicking the staff. After they put her in the "re-direction room" (A polite word for the plain padded room with a window in the door for observation :0). I guess that she wouldn't stay in the room and was still "freaking out" so they had to lock the door until she calmed down and it was safe for her to be around other people, which took 20 minutes. I can't believe that it only took 1 week before her first "freak-out", we dealt with this behavior daily but we were really afraid that it may take weeks for them to see any "abnormal" behavior. The psychiatrist said that it won't happen since mentally ill children can't hold it together that long, with the 24/7 observation they are definitely seeing her "true colors" right off the bat. Which is really good since the sooner that she exhibits all of her behaviors, the sooner they can start to treat her disorders (which is still a very long road).

Thursday Nov. 11, 2010

I was at the hospital last night, Papa's blood pressure was really low and he was pretty swollen. He had 4 hours of Dialysis and things are better today, he is eating breakfast and even asking for more cream for his coffee. He is still in "isolation" so we still have to get completely "dressed up" to go into his room then disinfect everything that comes in contact with anything in the room, I even have to wipe down my pen if I take it out to write anything. I feel like I am in "Haz-Mat" gear :0). The infection specialist came in yesterday, they are still working on which medication with deal with the infection and "kick it out of there". I am going to the hospital later so I will put another update on when I get home.

ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK...

Well, Papa had a great day! The Physical and Occupational therapists came in and got him up and out of bed. He sat in a chair for 2 hours and cleared a lot of the "gunk" out of his lungs, which is really good. He was pretty tired after getting up and around (after all, he has been down in bed for almost 2 weeks). After he was back in bed and resting, the nurse came in and told me that his "sputum" cultures came back positive and that he has contagious bacterial pneumonia. Sigh... he was placed in "isolation" and they kicked me out until tomorrow when they can find out which antibiotics will clear up the infection. He has been on IV antibiotics for about a week but this strain of pneumonia is resistant to what they have given him so... they do some more cultures and figure out which antibiotics will "kill it". Now when anyone goes to the hospital, we have to be decked out in "full gear" with a gown, gloves and a mask the entire time that we are in his room. I spent the day with him today suctioning and wiping and "pounding" his back so hopefully I don't end up getting sick or taking the "yuck" home with me to share with the kids. Also, hopefully Papa won't get any worse from this point, if we can find the right medication.

Tuesday Nov. 9, 2010

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A COUPLE OF DAYS MAKES! November 8, 2010

~Yes, his "nasal" cannula is in his mouth. He is a "mouth breather so they finally gave up and let him keep it in his mouth instead of his nose :0) He is actually smiling though~

November 6th, 2010

~Yeah, not looking (or feeling) his "best"~ Papa's breathing is still "wheezy and wet", the physical therapist is coming today to evaluate him to start getting him up and moving around. He needs to cough more often but doesn't want too because of the huge incision in his abdomen. I taught him the "holding the pillow on it trick" (as anyone that has ever had surgery on their tummy knows). I'm not sure that he believes me because he won't do it... still stubborn as ever :0), that's good! When I left last night at 11:00 pm he asked if he could get up and use the restroom and they were helping him do that. He is still attached to so many IVs and his O2 line that it takes a team of people just to move :0). The great news is... are you ready for it... he "pooped"! I realize that may be TMI for some of you but too jolly bad, we are ecstatic! :0) After having 1/3 of your colon removed, it is a REALLY big deal when things start "moving" again (wow, the things we take for granted :0) They are going to do a "Swallow Study" today to make sure that there is no blockage in the surgical site from the top down (now that we know that there isn't from the bottom-out). After that, he will be able to start taking liquids then move on to actual food.

Monday November 8, 2010

Papa is still stable. All of the tests came back from the surgery; All of the tissue removed was Benign, no cancerous or "suspicious" cells at all (yeah!). He is having a hard time talking because he had the tube down his throat for so long but he managed to call home this morning anyway to say "hi" :0). The physical therapist is going to come in this afternoon to evaluate him then get him sitting up and maybe walking a little tomorrow. Things are looking pretty good :0)

Papa

I will try to keep posts on my dad's condition so that everyone can just check the blog when you want an update.

October 19th - Papa had part of the mass removed from his back that is beside his lung on the right side. This is the same mass that the Dr.'s keep doing biopsies on, which keep coming back negative. No surgeon is happy with another surgeons results so they keep wanting their own "specimen", The tissue was not still not malignant.

October 25th - Blood sugar was WAY too low (33) they managed to get it up to 57 and his potassium was WAY to high. They were able to stabilize the levels after dialysis.

October 26th - They took his chest tube out, after that he was a lot more comfortable. He is still really weak and having trouble walking around (which, of course makes his breathing worse). The hospital discharged him anyway this afternoon, but after being home for a few days, he was having some severe bleeding and it got so bad that he needed to be admitted to the hospital again. (different hospital)

Update #1

Papa had to have numerous blood transfusions, approximately 10 units of blood. He went back and forth and up and down with his blood levels. He had an Endoscopy and they found that he had severe Esophogitis but that wasn't the cause of the bleeding. On Nov. 1st, the Gastroenterologist said that he would need to do an Exploratory Laparotomy and depending on what he found, he may have to do a bowel resection to remove part of the colon and that Papa may end up with an Ostemy bag. As it turned out, the bleeding stopped temporarily and they were able to put off the surgery. Nov. 3rd - The surgeon performed the Laparotomy, it took about 4 hours and he had to remove about 1/3 of the colon. At the end of the surgery he didn't end up needing to have the ostemy bag (whew). He needed another 4 units of blood, he was intubated so they kept him heavily sedated until they were closer to removing the tube since patients get very combative and try to pull the tube out. He was on continuous dialysis until the surgery. Nov. 5th - He was down to 3 hours a day for dialysis, still heavily sedated, needed more blood in the morning. Potassium and Glucose levels were good, they are going to try to wean him off of the sedation so that they can take the breathing tube out. My brother and my cousin Franco have been here a few days, I flew into Las Vegas this afternoon. They are starting to reduce the amount of sedation so Papa feels really miserable with the breathing tube in. He had to have his hands restrained so that he wouldn't pull on it. At 10:30 pm his hemoglobin was low so they gave him some iron through his IV, he was pretty agitated so they also gave him morphine and ativan to keep the incision pain under control and calm him down.

Update #2

Nov 6th - A.M. Papa still has the breathing tube but it is set to CPAP so he is doing the breathing on his own, the ventilator isn't doing any of the work anymore. His blood pressure has been high off and on, after dialysis they will draw a blood gas to check his respiratory function then extubate him today or tomorrow. P.M. - The Dr. is concerned that there are no "bowel sounds" yet and they may have to leave the breathing tube in a while longer until he is more stable. After dialysis his blood pressure was better and there were some bowel sounds, yeah! He had a fever of 103 so they gave him some more antibiotics. In the evening, he was a lot stronger moving his arms and legs around, his blood sugar was good. I stayed at the hospital until 2:00 am then I noticed that I was starting to get a sore throat so I came back to my dad's house to get some sleep. Nov 7th - I woke up at 3:00 PM after sleeping for 12 hours straight! It was pretty obvious when I got up that I was very sick with strep throat. Obviously I couldn't go to the hospital. While I was sleeping, they were able to remove the breathing tube YEAH!!! Later in the evening, they removed the gastric tube as well. Now, he just has oxygen through a nasal cannula, like at home. He is still very weak and his incision is sore but he is so much more comfortable with the breathing tube removed. He will be in the hospital for a while longer, they aren't sure exactly how long. He will start physical therapy either tomorrow or Tuesday, since he has been down for so long they want him to be pretty careful getting up and around. Compared to a few days ago he has made a TREMENDOUS improvement! Whew! Side note: I went to "Insta-care" and got a prescription, I have tonsillitis (of course). They said that I can go back to the hospital tomorrow, after I have been on the antibiotic for 24 hours.