My Dad is really sick :(
So my Dad is in the hospital. Somethings wrong with his heart :'(
I got a call on Wed night from my Grandma telling me about it.
The short version is they still dont know whats wrong with him.
Apparently, he has been feeling "sick" for a couple weeks now, and thought it was the flu, and then asthma, etc etc. Well he was the sickest he had been on Monday, went home from work, barely made it inside, and went almost straight to bed. He says he hasnt been able to sleep at all for weeks now, so hes exhausted.
Well he went ahead and got up Tues morning to go into work. He is the head of the MRI department at the hospital he works for, and he had interviews scheduled to interview new techs. He got to work, and tried to walk inside, and didnt even make it halfway up the lot. Someone else saw him hunched over and had to get the ER department to bring a wheelchair out and take him in.
When he got into the ER, his heartrate was 170. Normal is between like 75 and 80. They did some preliminary tests, and he wasnt having a heart attack, so they gave him medication to slow his heartrate. Once it slowed, they had him get up to walk the hallway, and he didnt make it 25 feet before he was gasping for air. Thats when they decided to admit him. Tuesday morning.
So they an EKG and didnt see anything major, it basically verified that he was not having a heart attack. But since his condition was not improving, they decided to do a test called an echo cardiogram. Its basically an ultra sound of his heart. What that showed was that his heart is greatly enlarged, and his pumping function (dont remember the name for it) is poor. That means his heart is overworked, tired, and not getting new, oxygenated blood to the rest of his body. Which is why he is gasping for air and so fatigued. So now the chore became finding out WHY his heart is enlarged and pumping poorly.
They scheduled him for a cardiac catheterization on Fri morning, and that would give them a very accurate idea of HOW the blood was flowing in and around his heart, and if there were any blockages. I took off work Thur to drive down to see him (he is in a hospital 2 hours away from me) and he said he was feeling "a lot better" but he looked pale, grey, bloated, and he was getting winded during conversation frequently.
I went into work on Fri, even though I really didnt want to, because I have missed a lot of work this winter with Tyler being sick. So far, I havent had TOO much trouble about it, and being this was a pretty major emergency, I knew my boss would be ok about it, and she was. But on Fri, I was really expecting her to send me home early, if not right away, because I hadnt slept and had been crying all night, and it was really obvious. Well not only did she not send me home early, she made me stay the entire day....because she wanted to have her house appraised for some loan she has no chance of taking out on it. And even after the appraiser went out to her house without her there, she STILL left early because she said she wanted to "sneak out early on a Friday for once" (more like almost every week). I think I hate her now.
Anyway- my Dad made it through the cardiac cath just fine. The good news is: he has no blockages to be causing low blood flow INTO the heart. The bad news about that is that now, they honestly have NO clue whats causing it. AND they discovered that the blood flow into his heart is even worse than they originally thought. His heart is stuck in a rhythm called "atrial fibrulation", which means the top chambers of his heart are beating irregularly, basically fluttering and not pumping the used blood from his body into his heart and back out into the body, almost at all.
At this point, they have ruled out a bacterial infection of the heart, they said it COULD be a viral infection, but they just doubt it for some reason. Theyre talking about transfering him up here to St Louis early next week- the hospital up here is much larger and more advanced than the one he is at. But even then, they really dont have the vaguest idea where to start, as far as I know. Ugh.
Now, as bad as all that is- my step mom did NOT call ANYONE in our family. At all. Ever. She made my DAD call my Grandma on Wed night HIMSELF to tell her about it. Now, people can say that she was busy blah blah blah- but you dont know the history of my family and my step mom. The cliff's notes is: she hates everyone in our family. Everyone. But, even still, to think that she did not call me, my Grandma, my brother, NONE of us, when my Dad went into the hospital with heart failure makes me sick to my stomach. I didnt say one word to her on Thursday, and I dont intend to. Im quite sure she found time to call HER family and let THEM know, but she didnt call any of us. Shes a fucktard of the premium quality.
So now Im home, and I think I have the flu. I was planning on going back down to visit him tomorrow, but theres no way in Hell I can go down there if I might be sick. So Im going to have to wait until later this week, maybe when hes transferred up here.
Telling Tyler about it was one of the hardest things Ive ever had to do- but remarkably he seems to be taking it ok. I think its probably that he just doesnt understand the severity of it, but he got to talk to my Dad on the phone and all, so he seems ok.
My Dad is only 52. He shouldnt be having these kinds of problems....
I just wanted to post something because I might not be online much, or if I am, I might not be very social. I just dont want anyone to think that I dont still care about you all or that Im being a bitch or something- because Im not. This is just really, really hard right now.
Ill talk to everyone soon, and Ill try to message you if I see you online. Everyone take care, and please- as corny as I know it sounds- tell everyone you love that you love them. You just dont know what could happen between now and the next time you talk to them :(