Howdy! We have started this blog to hopefully keep everyone informed on how things are going with my dad. First I want to thank everyone for all the prayer and support for they have shown the whole family it has been a true blessing!!
I am going to mention how things are as of the 11am visitation and then copy and paste the 2 previous emails that were sent out from Monday and Tuesday.
Currently: When we went in for the 11am visit the Mechanics Dr was there with Dad. He was able to explain the machines and monitors with such clarity. We also received GREAT news! Dad is currently opporating his own heart. They have even taken him off of the "heart" part of the heart and lung bypass machine. The doctor also said that if dad was able to maintain the oxygen level that he was currently at for an hour then they were going to try to remove the whole heart and lung bypass machine! He will still be on a ventilator at 100% but won't need the extra assistance of the blood circulation. We are praying that he will maintain and the machine can be removed. His organs are still critical and of course nerologically there are alot of unknowns. But it was fantastic news about the bypass machine. The doctor also said that the progress he has made over the last 2 days is just amazing and they are very surprised.
Now following are the emails from Mon and Tues to provide background to where we currently stand:
Monday November 24th
If this is the first time that you are hearing anything about my dad, I'm so sorry, we tried to make as many phone calls as we could. I apologize now for any wrong spellings, it is almost 11pm and it has been a long day.
My dad was taken to Methodist hospital this morning with the initial call to 911 because he was having a hard time breathing. Some back ground: two weeks ago he was told he has bronchitis he wasn't getting better so last Thursday he went back to the doctor and they said he had a small section of his lower right fold of his lung that has pneumonia so they changed his meds and sent him home. He would have times of feeling a little better then times of doing worse and finally it got to the point of where we are now.
In a nutshell my dad crashed several times on the way to the ER and at the ER and they had to do CPR on him off and on for roughly 3 hours. At one point they couldn't get a pulse for 10 minutes. We were unable to see him from about 9am-2pm because of the work they were having to do with him. They ended up having to put him on a ventilator and a heart and lung bypass machine.
Here is where we stand as of Mon Night: Dr say he is in critical, critical condition, has a serious infection although will be a couple of days before they know exactly what type it is. The infections Dr. has asked us several questions regarding his stomach, things he has eaten (I know he was having blood in his stools today also), anything imported (none), etc. So they are looking at other areas then just the pneumonia. They are also telling us that he has had a massive heart attack which they believe was as a result of his body fighting so hard against the infection. Their priority are the lungs and heart then neurological. With the machines they are able to run his body for him. Although they have some concerns with his organs failing on him as they are staring to see signs now of not only weekend with his heart and lungs but also some inflamtion of his liver. They have him under a light sedation because they are afraid that if he were to try to wake up then he would start fighting to help himself. His heart rate was around 150-160 so they actually want him to relax and let his heart rate go back down and start working regularly. With him fighting on his own and everything that is going on it would just cause continued problems. Now they said that he could hear us when we talk, but he looks as peaceful as you can with all the machines and tubes in him. He doesn't look tense at all. Last I saw him was around 630pm and his color looked better, his blood pressure was doing better and his body temp was felt good, he also lil ever so slightly less puffy. One concern for later is that if he is able to overcome the infection and wake up and operate his body on his own how will he brain function be. With as many time as they had to do CPR and for so long....they are really concerned that he has brain damage. Until he reaches that point of recovery there hasn't been a need to bring in the brain dr...that info will come later if it's God's will.
I think I have covered everything. Having family and any friends up there has been a blessing. We can only go and see him for 20 min at a time every few hours,2 family members at a time, so there is a long time between those short visits to sit and think. For my mom this is especially hard because she starts to think the worse, and she also blames herself for him getting so sick and not doing anything sooner. Please pray for her! The visitors have given her a chance to still be aware of what is going on yet be able to talk, cry, laugh, tell stories, etc. Sometimes I would just see her glance around at the different people talking to each other and feel so blessed.
Again thank everyone for your support and prayers! We have really felt the spirit of our Lord, prayers and blessings! I am praying that God's will be done, He knows the details of everything way before the Dr.s do and He knows how my dad's brain is functioning...and only God knows what is best for him.
Please pass this on to anyone.
God Bless You!!
Tuesday November 25th
Thank you a million times over for all the prayer, phone calls, emails, hospital visits, etc. I can’t express how much this means to my family. I didn’t get home from the hospital until around 11:30 last night and considering how poorly I spelt the night before and over 12 hours at the hospital I was exhausted and couldn’t think well enough to do this email. So here I am Wednesday morning. This is the update as of 10:30pm Tuesday night. We are being told multiple times that he did have a heart attack, then he didn’t and he did….well at 9pm last night his daily Doctor that my parents go to came up, looked at all the information she could on him so far and then came and talked to us for a good 30 minutes. This is her summary: All of his major organs have been damaged because of the loss of blood pressure, etc during the first few hours of all this. That includes that she mentioned: Heart, Lungs, Gall Bladder, Kidneys and Liver. She said that they don’t know to the extent any of them are because he is in to bad of a condition to be able to do any testing. So all in all with the heart…it is beating on its own now, which we are so thankful for, but we don’t know the extent of damage. He has had to have some blood transfusions over night Mon-Tues. His blood pressure is doing better although still having to be assisted some with a small drip. She also mentioned that it is a rarity that people they see come in and have the first day that my dad did on Monday, rarely even make it through the day…so that was a good sign as far as how strong his body is. She was also very realistic that he is very critical and that they are starting to see the function of some organs decline. He is still on the bypass machine and they tried to wean him off of that at one point and could not. His lungs have fluid and he is unable to get enough oxygen on his own. They are telling us that the longer he is on it, the less of a chance he will get off of it….which concerns Dr and they are trying their best to get him off as soon as they fell safe. His kidneys are in acute failure. Last night when they started what the Dr’s are hoping is a temporary Dialysis. Ultimately they are hoping that they can get the fluid out of his body and especially his lungs so then he can be able to operate on his own enough to get off the bypass machine (he is of course on the ventilator also). The Doctor did warn us that with the damage to his organs and some problems they are seeing…there is a chance that they will continue to decline and he will not make it. Their main Dr said that if he does make it then he will still be in the hospital for a good long time because they need to examine and test his organs, do extensive testing on his heart and then whatever is going to go into the neurological aspect. She also said that they have no way of really knowing as of now what his brain capacity is going to be once they are able to fix everything in the main body. She mentioned just trying to clear the liquid, and trying to get him to do his own oxygen and off the bypass machine could take weeks to get to that point. So that is where we stand for now with his machines and process’: Dialysis to get fluids out, hopefully lungs get strong and start working on their own then weaning him off of bypass. We found out yesterday afternoon that any pastor can go in there at anytime and pray for him, it doesn’t have to be at visiting hours. Praise God! We had one up yesterday after we found that out and he just walked in there with mom and no one said anything. From the information that we were giving here are the phone numbers to the waiting room: 713-441-3325 and 713-441-3326. Mom is talking to people more on the phone and of course has been so blessed by any visitors. We have been there long enough now that we know where families are stationed and people are good about coming and getting us or visa versa. Thank you again for all the help and support! I hope this has answered many of the questions you have.
God bless you!!!!!
Elizabeth
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