My daddy
On Friday morning, about 2:30, my dad woke my step-mom up. his tongue was swollen (as it gets sometimes, but worse). He woke her up and handed her a note that said 'My tongue is swollen, it's hard to breath. i may need to go to the hospital". She got up right away. He went into the bathroom before they left, and then he lost consciousness. She was just outside of the bathroom, and heard him. she rushed in, and he was not breathing. She placed two of her fingers in his mouth to open an airway, but his tongue was so swollen, she didn't get much. She left him for a second to call 911 and get a breathing apparatus that she had in the office. She rushed back to his side, and inserted said apparatus to assist with an airway. the paramedics arrived within 2 minutes as they are just around the corner. they were able to get a tube into his throat, and found that his heart had stopped. they got it started again right away and took him to the ER.
At the ER, the nurse said in her 9 years, she'd never seen a person's tongue so swollen. they worked on him swiftly. they found that the tube inserted by the medics was not stable, as they had a hard time getting it in. Furthermore, they could not get it back out due to the excessive swelling. he was sent to emergency surgery within 20 minutes, and had a trec put in. throughout this whole time, he was unresponsive, not regaining consciousness. after surgery, he went into the ICU, and momma and I went up there around 8:30.
To make a really long and painful story short, dad is still there. a team of doctors has been around him day and night, as has momma and myself. we know that his heart, lungs, kidneys, and what not are all good... of the 5 doctors we've seen everyone had good news, but the neurologist.
Dad's brainwaves are not good. They are not totally flat, thank god, but they are flat for 1 to 2 seconds, and then there are some "bursts" of activity... not big bursts, but some. the neurologist told us "It's very bad, not just BAD, its VERY BAD". There is a very big chance that he will never regain consciousness. He is not in a coma per say... he has no responses to stimuli at all. from the neurologist's standpoint, this is how he will be from now on.
However, it is a neurologist's place to not sugar coat the situation. They let you know what they think, and if there is some hope, they let you deal with that on your own... they can not give hope if the diagnosis is this bad. Things can improve.
momma and i sit with him all day, for as long as they'll let us. we hold his hand and talk to him, kiss his cheek, his hands, his arms. we read to him, make jokes to him, and ask him to finish our sentences or correct our stories.
he is breathing on his own today, but that's it. he does not blink, squeeze hands, or really move on his own accord. He did move a foot yesterday by himself, but that was an isolated even that has not been repeated.
they do not know what caused the swelling. we know it is either an allergy that we can't figure out yet, or angeoadema (sorry if that's misspelled). his tongue has gone down a bit, but is still quite swollen. My take on it is that the poor EEG readings could have something to do with the swelling (i read up on it online and on webmd). if his brain is swollen, the readings will be much poorer. if his tongue is still swollen, there is no reason why his brain can't be, too. he did go without air for an unknown amount of time, and he did hit his head when he fell (not too hard, but still...), and he has had a ton of medications pumped into him over the last 3 days.
i told him that i am always watching when i am there. if he can bat an eye at me, squeeze my hand, move a toe... i'll see it. i told him i'd see it and i will let him know that i did. when he moved his eye lid on saturday, just after my telling him this, i said "Great daddy! I saw you!!!" I encourage him the best i can.
today, the kids came to spend a few hours with him. they both said hi and chatted for a second, eric talked to him quite a bit. it was wonderful, at one point, eric said he had to go to the bathroom. i said "Ok, let's go" he said it would be a second, as he ran over to grandpa's side and said "Grandpa, I've got to go to the bathroom, but I'll be back in a few minutes! I love you!". i know that does a world of good for daddy.
so pray for me, my wonderful friends. pray to whatever gods you pray to, that my daddy makes some recovery. he won't ever be that wonderful, funny, loving, sweet, fantastic person that he once was, but we can still have a part of him back with us.
At the ER, the nurse said in her 9 years, she'd never seen a person's tongue so swollen. they worked on him swiftly. they found that the tube inserted by the medics was not stable, as they had a hard time getting it in. Furthermore, they could not get it back out due to the excessive swelling. he was sent to emergency surgery within 20 minutes, and had a trec put in. throughout this whole time, he was unresponsive, not regaining consciousness. after surgery, he went into the ICU, and momma and I went up there around 8:30.
To make a really long and painful story short, dad is still there. a team of doctors has been around him day and night, as has momma and myself. we know that his heart, lungs, kidneys, and what not are all good... of the 5 doctors we've seen everyone had good news, but the neurologist.
Dad's brainwaves are not good. They are not totally flat, thank god, but they are flat for 1 to 2 seconds, and then there are some "bursts" of activity... not big bursts, but some. the neurologist told us "It's very bad, not just BAD, its VERY BAD". There is a very big chance that he will never regain consciousness. He is not in a coma per say... he has no responses to stimuli at all. from the neurologist's standpoint, this is how he will be from now on.
However, it is a neurologist's place to not sugar coat the situation. They let you know what they think, and if there is some hope, they let you deal with that on your own... they can not give hope if the diagnosis is this bad. Things can improve.
momma and i sit with him all day, for as long as they'll let us. we hold his hand and talk to him, kiss his cheek, his hands, his arms. we read to him, make jokes to him, and ask him to finish our sentences or correct our stories.
he is breathing on his own today, but that's it. he does not blink, squeeze hands, or really move on his own accord. He did move a foot yesterday by himself, but that was an isolated even that has not been repeated.
they do not know what caused the swelling. we know it is either an allergy that we can't figure out yet, or angeoadema (sorry if that's misspelled). his tongue has gone down a bit, but is still quite swollen. My take on it is that the poor EEG readings could have something to do with the swelling (i read up on it online and on webmd). if his brain is swollen, the readings will be much poorer. if his tongue is still swollen, there is no reason why his brain can't be, too. he did go without air for an unknown amount of time, and he did hit his head when he fell (not too hard, but still...), and he has had a ton of medications pumped into him over the last 3 days.
i told him that i am always watching when i am there. if he can bat an eye at me, squeeze my hand, move a toe... i'll see it. i told him i'd see it and i will let him know that i did. when he moved his eye lid on saturday, just after my telling him this, i said "Great daddy! I saw you!!!" I encourage him the best i can.
today, the kids came to spend a few hours with him. they both said hi and chatted for a second, eric talked to him quite a bit. it was wonderful, at one point, eric said he had to go to the bathroom. i said "Ok, let's go" he said it would be a second, as he ran over to grandpa's side and said "Grandpa, I've got to go to the bathroom, but I'll be back in a few minutes! I love you!". i know that does a world of good for daddy.
so pray for me, my wonderful friends. pray to whatever gods you pray to, that my daddy makes some recovery. he won't ever be that wonderful, funny, loving, sweet, fantastic person that he once was, but we can still have a part of him back with us.