My Dad: Post-Op Day 1
Good evening, I know we have sent a few random updates throughout the day and we are grateful for all of your prayers and support. Tonight is a bit more of an in-depth story of what happened today.
We started wandering over to see Dad this morning a little after 7. I had called at 6:30 for an update and they said that Dad was doing fine, but his sedation medication had been turned off at 3:00 this morning and he wasn't waking up. Darryl's went to see him first and he seemed stable, but when Mom, Vivian and I stopped in a little later, the nurse didn't want us talking to him or touching him or anything. His blood pressure was quite high and she was trying to get it lowered. We left and returned for a few minutes at 10:30. Dad was still not responding and while they weren't terribly concerned yet, they were getting concerned.
I called back around 1 and they were now concerned. They sent him for a CT scan of his head to see if they could detect any reason for him not waking up. The biggest concern was that he had had a stroke or that he had suffered a lack of oxygen to his brain from when his heart stopped when he was still in OR. We went back to the hospital around 2:45 and were just scared as we waited for results from the scan. The only explanation that they could think of was a stroke or some form of brain injury.
BUT PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!! The scan came back clear. You could feel the mood in the room change as it all sank in. The doctor came in and explained it and said she talked to the radiologist who double checked the scan again to make sure. She said even the lack of oxygen known as an anoxic brain injury would have shown up yesterday. She said this doesn't completely rule out a brain issue as sometimes a week later something can show up, but at this point we are not looking at any kind of a brain issue. She simply feels at this point that it is just taking Dad a long time to come out of the sedation.
We've heard of a few people that have taken 2 days to come out of sedation, so we feel like we have hope again that he will be fine. While the doctor was still in, the nurse was trying to get dad to respond and she got more response than ever. Vivian and Ruthie read him some of his favorite chapters in Isaiah and his foot moved a few times. His eyes did seem to start trying to focus a little better at times as well.
A huge thanks to Clair and Ruthie for coming down in the afternoon and just being there for us. Ruthie took over babysitting Amber for me so I could be back with Dad and also while we all went for supper. Clair sat with Dad while we were gone for supper as well.
We had an amazing nurse during the day. She was so helpful and concerned and took such good care of dad. She is not scheduled to work on Friday, but thought maybe she could adjust her plans to be able to come back in if they needed her. Our night nurse? Not quite as nice. I think she is competent, but rather lacking in PR. The doctor is amazing; I think she had a stressful day yesterday worrying about Dad. She told us she was a little short in the OR because she was worried.
It is now Friday morning: Vivian and I both called in during the night and they said there has been no change. Darryl's are over there now and then we will go over in an hour.
Just continue to pray that Dad would wake up. That is the biggest need right now.
Vivian is planning to stay a little longer--at this point she has no return time planned. Dorothy will go home today for the weekend, I think. Ruthie is staying through the weekend; I'm not sure what Darryl's plans are for today. Dave is going to go home today and will come back early tomorrow morning and then we will both leave for Spencer for Saturday and Sunday to attend Cheryl Burkholder's viewing and funeral.
I am feeling very torn right now. Dad is stable at this point, so in that respect it feels safe to leave, but the fact that he hasn't woken up at all makes me feel like I need to be here and yet I can't do anything here either and I feel like we definitely need to go to the funeral for myself as much as anyone. Cheryl not being here is still so unreal--I need to see it and I want to be with her friends and family so we can grieve and cry together. So just pray for us that we would have wisdom to know what to do.
As far as visitors? They are welcome, but it is more of a sit in the waiting room most of the time; it's more knowing that someone is here that means something rather than any amount of visiting that gets done. We are back and forth from the waiting room to Dad's room. We don't have any definite plans for the day. We will be at the hospital a good bit, but if Dad doesn't respond more I doubt that we will be there all the time. We are now allowed to be in his room as much as we want.
Okay, this feels just a bit disjointed, so let me sum it up as best I can.
Pray that Dad would wake up soon.
Praise God that the CT scan was clear. Knowing that has been a huge relief, but it is still very stressful to just wait.
Pray for Mom: she is doing as good as can be expected. As hard as it is for us to see Dad like this, I am sure it is much harder for Mom. Pray especially that she can sleep good at night. So far she has been able to pretty well.
We started wandering over to see Dad this morning a little after 7. I had called at 6:30 for an update and they said that Dad was doing fine, but his sedation medication had been turned off at 3:00 this morning and he wasn't waking up. Darryl's went to see him first and he seemed stable, but when Mom, Vivian and I stopped in a little later, the nurse didn't want us talking to him or touching him or anything. His blood pressure was quite high and she was trying to get it lowered. We left and returned for a few minutes at 10:30. Dad was still not responding and while they weren't terribly concerned yet, they were getting concerned.
I called back around 1 and they were now concerned. They sent him for a CT scan of his head to see if they could detect any reason for him not waking up. The biggest concern was that he had had a stroke or that he had suffered a lack of oxygen to his brain from when his heart stopped when he was still in OR. We went back to the hospital around 2:45 and were just scared as we waited for results from the scan. The only explanation that they could think of was a stroke or some form of brain injury.
BUT PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!! The scan came back clear. You could feel the mood in the room change as it all sank in. The doctor came in and explained it and said she talked to the radiologist who double checked the scan again to make sure. She said even the lack of oxygen known as an anoxic brain injury would have shown up yesterday. She said this doesn't completely rule out a brain issue as sometimes a week later something can show up, but at this point we are not looking at any kind of a brain issue. She simply feels at this point that it is just taking Dad a long time to come out of the sedation.
We've heard of a few people that have taken 2 days to come out of sedation, so we feel like we have hope again that he will be fine. While the doctor was still in, the nurse was trying to get dad to respond and she got more response than ever. Vivian and Ruthie read him some of his favorite chapters in Isaiah and his foot moved a few times. His eyes did seem to start trying to focus a little better at times as well.
A huge thanks to Clair and Ruthie for coming down in the afternoon and just being there for us. Ruthie took over babysitting Amber for me so I could be back with Dad and also while we all went for supper. Clair sat with Dad while we were gone for supper as well.
We had an amazing nurse during the day. She was so helpful and concerned and took such good care of dad. She is not scheduled to work on Friday, but thought maybe she could adjust her plans to be able to come back in if they needed her. Our night nurse? Not quite as nice. I think she is competent, but rather lacking in PR. The doctor is amazing; I think she had a stressful day yesterday worrying about Dad. She told us she was a little short in the OR because she was worried.
It is now Friday morning: Vivian and I both called in during the night and they said there has been no change. Darryl's are over there now and then we will go over in an hour.
Just continue to pray that Dad would wake up. That is the biggest need right now.
Vivian is planning to stay a little longer--at this point she has no return time planned. Dorothy will go home today for the weekend, I think. Ruthie is staying through the weekend; I'm not sure what Darryl's plans are for today. Dave is going to go home today and will come back early tomorrow morning and then we will both leave for Spencer for Saturday and Sunday to attend Cheryl Burkholder's viewing and funeral.
I am feeling very torn right now. Dad is stable at this point, so in that respect it feels safe to leave, but the fact that he hasn't woken up at all makes me feel like I need to be here and yet I can't do anything here either and I feel like we definitely need to go to the funeral for myself as much as anyone. Cheryl not being here is still so unreal--I need to see it and I want to be with her friends and family so we can grieve and cry together. So just pray for us that we would have wisdom to know what to do.
As far as visitors? They are welcome, but it is more of a sit in the waiting room most of the time; it's more knowing that someone is here that means something rather than any amount of visiting that gets done. We are back and forth from the waiting room to Dad's room. We don't have any definite plans for the day. We will be at the hospital a good bit, but if Dad doesn't respond more I doubt that we will be there all the time. We are now allowed to be in his room as much as we want.
Okay, this feels just a bit disjointed, so let me sum it up as best I can.
Pray that Dad would wake up soon.
Praise God that the CT scan was clear. Knowing that has been a huge relief, but it is still very stressful to just wait.
Pray for Mom: she is doing as good as can be expected. As hard as it is for us to see Dad like this, I am sure it is much harder for Mom. Pray especially that she can sleep good at night. So far she has been able to pretty well.
Comments
Post a Comment