Dad Update
**UPDATE 1/15 -- 11:35 a.m.
My dad was hit by a car around noon today; he was not in a car, he was working. It hit him in the right hip/leg; there's a significant amount of damage in the leg as far as blood is concerned (and muscles). He also has a punctured lung -- these two issues are the main concerns of the doctor. Besides these, his lung is bruised, he has injuries to his kidney and spleen, as well as other leg issues. He was brought to UMDNJ's Trauma Center, and they very recently moved him to ICU. We haven't seen him yet.
I will update information as I know.
At 8:20, the doctor called us all in to discuss Dad's current condition. She let us know that when he arrived up at ICU (from TRAUMA), he was "stable," but that his blood pressure dropped very low, which led them to send him down for an angiogram. The angiogram showed that he had a pseudo-aneurism in his leg where he was hit. They embollized it, and it seems everything is well with that. Besides that, she said that he has a lacerated lung, which they are concerned about. He also has a hematoma // bleeding in his groin, which they are monitoring, as well. He has numerous rib fractures, but no pelvic fractures, which is positive. Their goal for the night is to keep his blood pressure up and make sure he does not continue to bleed (he was bleeding on and off all day). They are keeping him on the ventillator for the night; we'll see how he is tomorrow -- he could be on it for a few days, if necessary. They have been "recussitating" him -- this means supportive care with blood, oxygen, and fluids. They don't think they'll need to do any other tests, but they cannot be sure about that. Fortunately, his kidney and spleen are okay.
We were able to see him, too. I went in first with my mom and I was honestly not prepared to see what he looked like. His face was very swollen, to the point that the skin was surrounding the tubes, and his eyes were swollen shut. He looked so terrible; it's "funny" because everyone else after said that he looked much better than they thought. I had to leave the room because I was so nauseous and light-headed (something that never happens to me in hospitals). Anyway, it's just hard, I guess, because he's my dad and he looks completely terrible and I feel so awful.
I'm very tired, so I'm going to try and sleep. I'll update again tomorrow night.
My mom received a phone call at 3:30 am; my dad's blood pressure won't stay up, so they are giving him medicine that is helpingto stabilize it. They had to put a catheter in his heart. That's all I know as of now.
The medicine has been helping with his blood pressure; the punctured lung will heal on its own, and my dad is oxygenating better than he was yesterday. The fractured ribs will also heal on their own; they need to monitor them all closely, though, because they need to make sure everything is healing correctly. If they aren't, they need to do a procedure. They were taking many X-rays of his right leg -- this is the primary cause of concern because they haven't found any fractures, and yet his leg is literally twice the size of his left leg. They are trying to find out what has caused so much swelling.
Here is the update about the guy who hit him; he's 63 years old, and he was driving a brand new SUV Lexus (this is important, since he can't say that the brakes weren't working or the tires were old. The SUV is 3-4 months old TOPS). He claims he was on his way to a sales call, and because he was nervous, he had one glass of wine at 10 am to loosen up. The police took him to the hospital for blood work -- they didn't do a breathalizer because of the severity of the incident. I don't think anyone believes it was just one glass of wine, but we will find out in the next few weeks. The car has been impounded, and the cops are checking it top to bottom. The man was going under the speed limit, which is very beneficial for my dad, but claims he NEVER saw Dad -- even though he was in a bright orange jacket. He was not fumbling with a cell phone, radio -- etc. Just "never saw him."
My dad was responding to Mom as she spoke to him this morning; the nurses did something to him that really put him in pain, and he was moving his head, I guess. He was also nodding to things my mom was saying (she let him know that it's Christmas Eve). The doctors took him off of the blood pressure medicine, and his blood pressure is staying up, which is really good. The leg, however, is still a mystery (to us, at least). My mom needs to take pictures of him today for the inevitable lawsuit (Frank [my dad's best friend, as well as an attorney] told her to); she didn't take the camera with her, but she looked at his hip for the first time and apparently the bruise is really really bad. Not much of a surprise there. She was just really happy that he was responding to her in any way, even though he was visibly upset that he was missing Christmas.
They haven't taken the ventillator out; he wasn't breathing well on his own, but they think it might have to do with the lack of pain medicine (for whatever reason, they thought he wasn't in pain so they took him completely off the medicine). When they tried to take the ventillator out, his blood pressure dropped and he was having trouble breathing. So the ventillator is staying in and I'll post when anything new happens.
I'm just going to copy and paste what my brother just told me:
Tycho714: dad was being bad last night
Tycho714: he was pulling out the tubes
DramaDivaAR: i thought he was strapped down
Tycho714: when they took him for an xray
Tycho714: they never restrapped him
Tycho714: they put everything back, it didn't cause damage
Tycho714: but he is back up to 12 on his ventillator
Tycho714: and he was using mom's hand to write letters for her
Tycho714: he wanted a coke
Yesterday, he was down to 8, but the nurse said that he wasn't breathing as well (the lower the number, presumably, the better), so they were going to have to raise the oxygen up. I guess because he pulled the tube out, he had to go all the way back to 12 (where he was a few days ago).
The doctors think that Dad is developing pneumonia; they need to do another procedure (putting a camera down into his lungs) to see what's happening. I don't know much else at this time.
Thankfully, there is no infection; the doctors could see blood down there (I don't know if it's in his lungs or in his breathing passage or what), but they have stated that it could be from the trauma or from my dad pulling the tube out and tearing some tissue and so forth. No pneumonia, which is great news.
They brought the oxygen down to 0, and they will keep it there for two hours. Then they will finally take out the ventilator! They also loosened one of the restraints on his arm, so he must be behaving today. This is all very good news.
Okay, they took out the ventilator for a little over two hours. They were giving him breathing treatments through an oxygen mask, and he gradually started shutting down, I guess you might say. He stopped breathing, and the nurses and doctors came in -- ventilator back in and tomorrow is the tracheotemy. My mom got super depressed because things were finally looking up and now he's taken a step back. The tracheotemy will be less irritating to him, however -- but he definitely needs it because he can't breathe on his own yet. They originally had him set to sit up tomorrow and get him moving, but that's not going to happen now.
My dad had the trach done yesterday. I didn't go over there, but I think I'm going to try and go tomorrow. We'll see. After my breakdown on Tuesday, I'm not sure how ready I am to go back. I know it's selfish, but I'm having a hard time pulling myself together in general.
Taken from my brother's journal:
My mom talked to the investigating officer again this morning and found out the guy who hit my dad apparently has a brain tumor and was in the hospital recently (if by recently she means before the accident or after the accident, I don't know). This doesn't change the fact that he admitted to having wine that morning, but it could possibly explain why he said he swerved away to avoid my dad while witnesses said they all saw him swerve into him. Also, they will check to see if he was given orders by a doctor not to drive.
**
My dad is home today for the day; he has one week left of being at Kessler (East Orange) for therapy. Once he's home, he'll be going in for therapy three times a week for an unended amount of time. Thank you to everyone who has been calling / IMing / praying, and the like. It's been an insane time in our lives and we're all thankful for the loving support we've received from all over.
My dad was hit by a car around noon today; he was not in a car, he was working. It hit him in the right hip/leg; there's a significant amount of damage in the leg as far as blood is concerned (and muscles). He also has a punctured lung -- these two issues are the main concerns of the doctor. Besides these, his lung is bruised, he has injuries to his kidney and spleen, as well as other leg issues. He was brought to UMDNJ's Trauma Center, and they very recently moved him to ICU. We haven't seen him yet.
I will update information as I know.
At 8:20, the doctor called us all in to discuss Dad's current condition. She let us know that when he arrived up at ICU (from TRAUMA), he was "stable," but that his blood pressure dropped very low, which led them to send him down for an angiogram. The angiogram showed that he had a pseudo-aneurism in his leg where he was hit. They embollized it, and it seems everything is well with that. Besides that, she said that he has a lacerated lung, which they are concerned about. He also has a hematoma // bleeding in his groin, which they are monitoring, as well. He has numerous rib fractures, but no pelvic fractures, which is positive. Their goal for the night is to keep his blood pressure up and make sure he does not continue to bleed (he was bleeding on and off all day). They are keeping him on the ventillator for the night; we'll see how he is tomorrow -- he could be on it for a few days, if necessary. They have been "recussitating" him -- this means supportive care with blood, oxygen, and fluids. They don't think they'll need to do any other tests, but they cannot be sure about that. Fortunately, his kidney and spleen are okay.
We were able to see him, too. I went in first with my mom and I was honestly not prepared to see what he looked like. His face was very swollen, to the point that the skin was surrounding the tubes, and his eyes were swollen shut. He looked so terrible; it's "funny" because everyone else after said that he looked much better than they thought. I had to leave the room because I was so nauseous and light-headed (something that never happens to me in hospitals). Anyway, it's just hard, I guess, because he's my dad and he looks completely terrible and I feel so awful.
I'm very tired, so I'm going to try and sleep. I'll update again tomorrow night.
My mom received a phone call at 3:30 am; my dad's blood pressure won't stay up, so they are giving him medicine that is helpingto stabilize it. They had to put a catheter in his heart. That's all I know as of now.
The medicine has been helping with his blood pressure; the punctured lung will heal on its own, and my dad is oxygenating better than he was yesterday. The fractured ribs will also heal on their own; they need to monitor them all closely, though, because they need to make sure everything is healing correctly. If they aren't, they need to do a procedure. They were taking many X-rays of his right leg -- this is the primary cause of concern because they haven't found any fractures, and yet his leg is literally twice the size of his left leg. They are trying to find out what has caused so much swelling.
Here is the update about the guy who hit him; he's 63 years old, and he was driving a brand new SUV Lexus (this is important, since he can't say that the brakes weren't working or the tires were old. The SUV is 3-4 months old TOPS). He claims he was on his way to a sales call, and because he was nervous, he had one glass of wine at 10 am to loosen up. The police took him to the hospital for blood work -- they didn't do a breathalizer because of the severity of the incident. I don't think anyone believes it was just one glass of wine, but we will find out in the next few weeks. The car has been impounded, and the cops are checking it top to bottom. The man was going under the speed limit, which is very beneficial for my dad, but claims he NEVER saw Dad -- even though he was in a bright orange jacket. He was not fumbling with a cell phone, radio -- etc. Just "never saw him."
My dad was responding to Mom as she spoke to him this morning; the nurses did something to him that really put him in pain, and he was moving his head, I guess. He was also nodding to things my mom was saying (she let him know that it's Christmas Eve). The doctors took him off of the blood pressure medicine, and his blood pressure is staying up, which is really good. The leg, however, is still a mystery (to us, at least). My mom needs to take pictures of him today for the inevitable lawsuit (Frank [my dad's best friend, as well as an attorney] told her to); she didn't take the camera with her, but she looked at his hip for the first time and apparently the bruise is really really bad. Not much of a surprise there. She was just really happy that he was responding to her in any way, even though he was visibly upset that he was missing Christmas.
They haven't taken the ventillator out; he wasn't breathing well on his own, but they think it might have to do with the lack of pain medicine (for whatever reason, they thought he wasn't in pain so they took him completely off the medicine). When they tried to take the ventillator out, his blood pressure dropped and he was having trouble breathing. So the ventillator is staying in and I'll post when anything new happens.
I'm just going to copy and paste what my brother just told me:
Tycho714: dad was being bad last night
Tycho714: he was pulling out the tubes
DramaDivaAR: i thought he was strapped down
Tycho714: when they took him for an xray
Tycho714: they never restrapped him
Tycho714: they put everything back, it didn't cause damage
Tycho714: but he is back up to 12 on his ventillator
Tycho714: and he was using mom's hand to write letters for her
Tycho714: he wanted a coke
Yesterday, he was down to 8, but the nurse said that he wasn't breathing as well (the lower the number, presumably, the better), so they were going to have to raise the oxygen up. I guess because he pulled the tube out, he had to go all the way back to 12 (where he was a few days ago).
The doctors think that Dad is developing pneumonia; they need to do another procedure (putting a camera down into his lungs) to see what's happening. I don't know much else at this time.
Thankfully, there is no infection; the doctors could see blood down there (I don't know if it's in his lungs or in his breathing passage or what), but they have stated that it could be from the trauma or from my dad pulling the tube out and tearing some tissue and so forth. No pneumonia, which is great news.
They brought the oxygen down to 0, and they will keep it there for two hours. Then they will finally take out the ventilator! They also loosened one of the restraints on his arm, so he must be behaving today. This is all very good news.
Okay, they took out the ventilator for a little over two hours. They were giving him breathing treatments through an oxygen mask, and he gradually started shutting down, I guess you might say. He stopped breathing, and the nurses and doctors came in -- ventilator back in and tomorrow is the tracheotemy. My mom got super depressed because things were finally looking up and now he's taken a step back. The tracheotemy will be less irritating to him, however -- but he definitely needs it because he can't breathe on his own yet. They originally had him set to sit up tomorrow and get him moving, but that's not going to happen now.
My dad had the trach done yesterday. I didn't go over there, but I think I'm going to try and go tomorrow. We'll see. After my breakdown on Tuesday, I'm not sure how ready I am to go back. I know it's selfish, but I'm having a hard time pulling myself together in general.
Taken from my brother's journal:
My mom talked to the investigating officer again this morning and found out the guy who hit my dad apparently has a brain tumor and was in the hospital recently (if by recently she means before the accident or after the accident, I don't know). This doesn't change the fact that he admitted to having wine that morning, but it could possibly explain why he said he swerved away to avoid my dad while witnesses said they all saw him swerve into him. Also, they will check to see if he was given orders by a doctor not to drive.
**
My dad is home today for the day; he has one week left of being at Kessler (East Orange) for therapy. Once he's home, he'll be going in for therapy three times a week for an unended amount of time. Thank you to everyone who has been calling / IMing / praying, and the like. It's been an insane time in our lives and we're all thankful for the loving support we've received from all over.