ICU Update
Going into all of this, all of the diagnosis' that my daddy has had over the last 4+ years, I began to research a lot. More than I wish I had. I've learned the ins and outs of Primary Progressive Aphasia Dementia, Atrial Fibrillation, and Parkinsons Disease. I learned so many heart breaking things, from lack of treatment to symptoms to life expectancies. It is all heart breaking. I learned the 'stages' of each disease and knew what to potentially expect and to look for. It was a huge relief that my daddy, before he reached the worst stages, (it's hard to think it could get worse than what it started as) he went into a nursing home. I thought 'what a relief, he is safe' but if anything I've learned so far is true, dont ever get comfortable.
Thursday morning, first thing, I got a call from my mom. Instantly, I knew something was wrong. She didnt have work that day so I knew getting a call from her cell phone was not normal. My dad had an incident in the nursing home, he was in the ER. I needed to hold tight to see if it was serious or just precautionary. The incident? He choked.
You see, people will Parkinson's Disease begin to lose control of their muscles, sure, they shake a lot, but the muscle control is debilitating and can kill you. It is common for those with the disease to choke, as they often lose the ability to control their mouth and throat muscles. This is one of those horrible facts you should feel blessed you dont need to know, until you need to know it.
I got a call back not long later, it turns out it was serious. My dad had aspirated a part of his breakfast. They had performed the heimlich maneuver on him and had to literally use their hands to grab pieces of food from his throat. He not only was in desperate need of oxygen, but because of the incident he suffered tremendous stress triggering an a-fib attack and needed to be defibulated on his way to the ER. I broke. Could this be it? I was on my way to Richmond within an hour (my husband needed to come home from work and I needed to throw some things together for the kids and I-otherwise I would have left that instant).
By the time I was in the car, he had been moved to ICU, he was on 15l of oxygen and hooked up to all kinds of monitors. But, he was stable. When I got to the hospital, his oxygen was the same and the doctors were concerned why he was seemingly getting the oxygen but his blood oxygen levels weren't rising so they ordered x-rays and a CT scan. Amongst a few other things he was on antibiotics to prevent infection from the aspiration.
I've never answered so many medical history questions in my life, nor have I cried so much in a day. He was stable, but we weren't in the clear and honestly I kept going down that rabbit hole I mentioned a few posts back, but I'll come back to that. As the day wore on his oxygen levels slowly were getting better but his scans came back not as good and that night he suffered yet another a-fib attack. I'm sorry this is such a long post, but I cant begin to tell you how long these last few days have seemed. I'll skip more boring stuff but he is now eating pureed foods (including bread and pasta-GAG) and you can see on his face how painful that is for him. His doctors are worried about how weak his heart is now and to make all matters worse, his CT scan shows a large mass on his esophagus.
As of yesterday afternoon they moved him a step down from ICU. His oxygen levels are better and whenever he is discharged, if ever, he will require oxygen. His heart is weakened and they don't know if there's anything to do about that but keep his medications steady and the mass is hopefully not a ticking time bomb, but we don't know yet. He gets more tests done on Monday to see if he will ever eat more than just liquids and purees.
There is a long road ahead, and as I always say, it will never get easier. I hate that my heart will drop every time I see my mom call now, I hate that I know what these next stages hold. And I hate that I dont know what's next.
UPDATE: As of today, Monday June 4, he was stable enough to return to his nursing home. He will continue to be on oxygen, and new medications including the antibiotics. His home is next door to the hospital and he is getting round the clock care so he is 'safe' for now.
(This photo is from the nursing home, not the hospital. I would never post a photo of him in this state.)
Thursday morning, first thing, I got a call from my mom. Instantly, I knew something was wrong. She didnt have work that day so I knew getting a call from her cell phone was not normal. My dad had an incident in the nursing home, he was in the ER. I needed to hold tight to see if it was serious or just precautionary. The incident? He choked.
You see, people will Parkinson's Disease begin to lose control of their muscles, sure, they shake a lot, but the muscle control is debilitating and can kill you. It is common for those with the disease to choke, as they often lose the ability to control their mouth and throat muscles. This is one of those horrible facts you should feel blessed you dont need to know, until you need to know it.
I got a call back not long later, it turns out it was serious. My dad had aspirated a part of his breakfast. They had performed the heimlich maneuver on him and had to literally use their hands to grab pieces of food from his throat. He not only was in desperate need of oxygen, but because of the incident he suffered tremendous stress triggering an a-fib attack and needed to be defibulated on his way to the ER. I broke. Could this be it? I was on my way to Richmond within an hour (my husband needed to come home from work and I needed to throw some things together for the kids and I-otherwise I would have left that instant).
By the time I was in the car, he had been moved to ICU, he was on 15l of oxygen and hooked up to all kinds of monitors. But, he was stable. When I got to the hospital, his oxygen was the same and the doctors were concerned why he was seemingly getting the oxygen but his blood oxygen levels weren't rising so they ordered x-rays and a CT scan. Amongst a few other things he was on antibiotics to prevent infection from the aspiration.
I've never answered so many medical history questions in my life, nor have I cried so much in a day. He was stable, but we weren't in the clear and honestly I kept going down that rabbit hole I mentioned a few posts back, but I'll come back to that. As the day wore on his oxygen levels slowly were getting better but his scans came back not as good and that night he suffered yet another a-fib attack. I'm sorry this is such a long post, but I cant begin to tell you how long these last few days have seemed. I'll skip more boring stuff but he is now eating pureed foods (including bread and pasta-GAG) and you can see on his face how painful that is for him. His doctors are worried about how weak his heart is now and to make all matters worse, his CT scan shows a large mass on his esophagus.
As of yesterday afternoon they moved him a step down from ICU. His oxygen levels are better and whenever he is discharged, if ever, he will require oxygen. His heart is weakened and they don't know if there's anything to do about that but keep his medications steady and the mass is hopefully not a ticking time bomb, but we don't know yet. He gets more tests done on Monday to see if he will ever eat more than just liquids and purees.
There is a long road ahead, and as I always say, it will never get easier. I hate that my heart will drop every time I see my mom call now, I hate that I know what these next stages hold. And I hate that I dont know what's next.
UPDATE: As of today, Monday June 4, he was stable enough to return to his nursing home. He will continue to be on oxygen, and new medications including the antibiotics. His home is next door to the hospital and he is getting round the clock care so he is 'safe' for now.
(This photo is from the nursing home, not the hospital. I would never post a photo of him in this state.)
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