3 Weeks Ago Today . . .
I was in Nebraska sitting in the surgery waiting room. I was with my mom and brother. We were passing the time talking, playing cards, and drinking hot chocolate. I don't think anyone really spoke it, but I think we all thought that the most serious part of this whole thing was the surgery. If dad made it through the surgery, then all would be fine.
Never in our wildest dreams, did any of us think that the recovery would be so tough. Here it is, 3 weeks later, and Dad is still in ICU. He's made baby steps forward, but it seems that most of his recovery has been 'status quo'.
We had a bit of reprieve when they moved him from the ICU to a modified cardiac care room. It seemed like that was a good sign and he was on the road to recovery. I felt comfortable leaving and coming back to Texas. However, he was only there for about 2 1/2 days before they moved him back to ICU and put in the ventilator. Hind sight being 20/20, it possibly wasn't such a good idea that he yanked the ventilator out on his own.
It seems like there have been so many issues and to me it seems like the doctors are slow in resolving these issues. About 10 days or so after surgery, they removed the ventilator again and tried to see if he could breath on his own. He had so much difficulty that by that evening, they put it back in. I think I want to try to do a timeline and see if I can remember what exactly has transpired:
9/22/09 (Tues) - dad goes in for surgery to repair his leaky heart valve
9/23/09 (wed) - everyone is claiming that the surgery is a success (from a heart perspective) but he is not waking up from the anesthesia like he should be
9/24/09 (Thur) - sometime during the night, dad pulled out the ventilator. He seemed to be doing OK (he was sitting up, talking, and went for a couple of walks)
9/25/09 (Fri) - still seemed to be doing ok. He was struggling with breathing a bit and the doctors put him on a machine that folks use who have sleep apnea.
9/26/09 (Sat) - moved to a modified room - still some struggling breathing
9/27/09 (Sun) - still in modified room. Still some struggling breathing on his own. I felt OK enough to leave and come back home
9/28/09 (Mon) - Still not much change. Dad was requesting more often the machine to help him breath
9/29/09 (Tues) - Decision was made to move back to ICU and re-insert ventilator. What a blow to us (and dad I'm sure), but he could at least rest and not struggle so much with breathing.
9/30/09 (Wed) - from here my memory gets a little fuzzy, so I'll rely on my facebook posts to help me. And unfortunately, facebook doesn't go back this far!! :( However, I did send some emails, so I'll go from there! Looks like today, there was not much change or discussion.
10/1/09 (Thur) - At some point in the last couple of days, a hole was discovered in dad's lung. Because of this there was air outside his lungs. So, the doctors inserted a chest tube to let the excess air escape.
10/2/09 (Fri) - Not enough air really escaped so they will give it over the weekend to see what happens. If still no change, they will insert a bigger chest tube and possible do a tracheotomy (this will make him more mobile while on the ventilator).
10/3/09 and 10/4/09 (Sat and Sun) - Not much change or information over the weekend.
10/5/09 (Mon) - The doctors were supposed to do the tracheotomy and cardioversion (at sometime dad's heart went out of rhythm) today but it didn't get done.
10/6/09 (Tues) - It's been 2 weeks since the surgery and it doesn't appear that a whole lot progress is being made. It seems like the doctors can't get together to make a decision. Still no tracheotomy or cardioversion.
10/7/09 (Wed) - The lung doctor thought dad was doing well enough that the ventilator could come out! Initially dad handled it well, but by the evening the ventilator was put back in. :(
10/8/09 (Thurs) - Today the tracheotomy was done (no cardioversion as they found a small blood clot in his heart). They also determined that his lung was collapsed in 3 different spots (no wonder he had a hard time breathing). They inserted a bigger chest tube to help the excess air escape. Apparently, there is still a hole in his lung.
10/9/09 (Fri) - They put a feeding tube in today (Dad was NOT pleased with this!). It's purpose is to provide calories and nutrition so he can do some physical therapy. They also gave him 2 units of blood. There was something was was low because of his lack of nutrition.
10/10/09 (Sat) - Dad was off the ventilator for about 7 hours! He seems to be moving in the right direction. Overall, Dad had a pretty good day!
10/11/09 (Sun) - Dad wasn't off the ventilator as long today, but again, overall it appeared to be a fairly good day.
10/12/09 (Mon) - Dad had a very restless night. Not sure why. Because of that he pretty much was on the ventilator all day.
10/13/09 (Tues) - 3 weeks and still in ICU. Nothing we ever expected, but trying to deal with. He is off the ventilator so far today (I'm typing this around lunch time). I'll be praying for a good day!
So, in a nutshell, this has been his recovery process. Of course, there have been many cat scans, blood drawings, bronchoscopys and a slew of other tests that I either don't know about or can't remember the days they happened. I do know that Mom is exhausted. She, too, is on a roller coaster ride. She wants to make the right decisions for dad; I'm sure it's hard to see her husband of almost 60 years struggling, but I also think she's optimistic (most days) that eventually all will be fine.
I know that Dad is not out of the woods yet. He has a long road ahead of him. I just hope and pray that he can be diligent when he needs to be and patient.
Never in our wildest dreams, did any of us think that the recovery would be so tough. Here it is, 3 weeks later, and Dad is still in ICU. He's made baby steps forward, but it seems that most of his recovery has been 'status quo'.
We had a bit of reprieve when they moved him from the ICU to a modified cardiac care room. It seemed like that was a good sign and he was on the road to recovery. I felt comfortable leaving and coming back to Texas. However, he was only there for about 2 1/2 days before they moved him back to ICU and put in the ventilator. Hind sight being 20/20, it possibly wasn't such a good idea that he yanked the ventilator out on his own.
It seems like there have been so many issues and to me it seems like the doctors are slow in resolving these issues. About 10 days or so after surgery, they removed the ventilator again and tried to see if he could breath on his own. He had so much difficulty that by that evening, they put it back in. I think I want to try to do a timeline and see if I can remember what exactly has transpired:
9/22/09 (Tues) - dad goes in for surgery to repair his leaky heart valve
9/23/09 (wed) - everyone is claiming that the surgery is a success (from a heart perspective) but he is not waking up from the anesthesia like he should be
9/24/09 (Thur) - sometime during the night, dad pulled out the ventilator. He seemed to be doing OK (he was sitting up, talking, and went for a couple of walks)
9/25/09 (Fri) - still seemed to be doing ok. He was struggling with breathing a bit and the doctors put him on a machine that folks use who have sleep apnea.
9/26/09 (Sat) - moved to a modified room - still some struggling breathing
9/27/09 (Sun) - still in modified room. Still some struggling breathing on his own. I felt OK enough to leave and come back home
9/28/09 (Mon) - Still not much change. Dad was requesting more often the machine to help him breath
9/29/09 (Tues) - Decision was made to move back to ICU and re-insert ventilator. What a blow to us (and dad I'm sure), but he could at least rest and not struggle so much with breathing.
9/30/09 (Wed) - from here my memory gets a little fuzzy, so I'll rely on my facebook posts to help me. And unfortunately, facebook doesn't go back this far!! :( However, I did send some emails, so I'll go from there! Looks like today, there was not much change or discussion.
10/1/09 (Thur) - At some point in the last couple of days, a hole was discovered in dad's lung. Because of this there was air outside his lungs. So, the doctors inserted a chest tube to let the excess air escape.
10/2/09 (Fri) - Not enough air really escaped so they will give it over the weekend to see what happens. If still no change, they will insert a bigger chest tube and possible do a tracheotomy (this will make him more mobile while on the ventilator).
10/3/09 and 10/4/09 (Sat and Sun) - Not much change or information over the weekend.
10/5/09 (Mon) - The doctors were supposed to do the tracheotomy and cardioversion (at sometime dad's heart went out of rhythm) today but it didn't get done.
10/6/09 (Tues) - It's been 2 weeks since the surgery and it doesn't appear that a whole lot progress is being made. It seems like the doctors can't get together to make a decision. Still no tracheotomy or cardioversion.
10/7/09 (Wed) - The lung doctor thought dad was doing well enough that the ventilator could come out! Initially dad handled it well, but by the evening the ventilator was put back in. :(
10/8/09 (Thurs) - Today the tracheotomy was done (no cardioversion as they found a small blood clot in his heart). They also determined that his lung was collapsed in 3 different spots (no wonder he had a hard time breathing). They inserted a bigger chest tube to help the excess air escape. Apparently, there is still a hole in his lung.
10/9/09 (Fri) - They put a feeding tube in today (Dad was NOT pleased with this!). It's purpose is to provide calories and nutrition so he can do some physical therapy. They also gave him 2 units of blood. There was something was was low because of his lack of nutrition.
10/10/09 (Sat) - Dad was off the ventilator for about 7 hours! He seems to be moving in the right direction. Overall, Dad had a pretty good day!
10/11/09 (Sun) - Dad wasn't off the ventilator as long today, but again, overall it appeared to be a fairly good day.
10/12/09 (Mon) - Dad had a very restless night. Not sure why. Because of that he pretty much was on the ventilator all day.
10/13/09 (Tues) - 3 weeks and still in ICU. Nothing we ever expected, but trying to deal with. He is off the ventilator so far today (I'm typing this around lunch time). I'll be praying for a good day!
So, in a nutshell, this has been his recovery process. Of course, there have been many cat scans, blood drawings, bronchoscopys and a slew of other tests that I either don't know about or can't remember the days they happened. I do know that Mom is exhausted. She, too, is on a roller coaster ride. She wants to make the right decisions for dad; I'm sure it's hard to see her husband of almost 60 years struggling, but I also think she's optimistic (most days) that eventually all will be fine.
I know that Dad is not out of the woods yet. He has a long road ahead of him. I just hope and pray that he can be diligent when he needs to be and patient.
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