Progress? Maybe.
Wow, I love my current icon. That's totally me.
Physical issues: Bleeding internally again, this time more severely. The blood was thin and diluted, but it was bright crimson, which meant it was coming from somewhere in his lower GI tract. They had to give him two units of blood last night to compensate for the loss. His liver, lungs, and pancreas are improving little by little, but his kidney function is slowly beginning to fail again. His whole abdomen was tender and painful. Amptuation site is looking excellent, but the incision where H'Doubler went in and removed the haematoma is starting to look infected. They were switching antibiotics to one that wouldn't harm his kidneys. Bicarbonate level in blood dropped alarmingly in the course of a few hours.
Mental issues: Excellently awake and alert. Responsive and comprehending as usual, though the pain he was in, general physical weakness, and the feeding tube in his throat prevented him from talking very clearly. He was strangely clingy to us today, especially to me, but I'm not sure if it was because he was confused or fearful.
Stuff: My homeboy H'Doubler (lawl, Mandi... xD) called in to check the haematoma site and also to judge if Dad's got very bad circulation or not. We didn't get to talk to him. Dad taken in for endoscopy and colonoscopy. Ulcers are 25% healed and so is pancreas. No sign of perforations, additional ulcers, polyps, or cancer. Dr. Lee (the idiot who initially canceled this procedure and wrote down that it was Mom who did it) said that he found two strange spots up in the colon that he clamped to prevent problems with, but he said there was NO way that was the cause of the bleeding and that there was no way the bleeding was caused by Dad's waste tube system thing.
However, Dad's nurse, Lynne, was in the endoscopy room for the whole procedure. Frowning, she told Mom and I that that's not what was going on. She said these weird spots Lee clamped were about two inches inside and were most likely caused by the waste tube thing, which had been removed and not put back in, and that they were *probably* the cause of the severe bleeding, though we can't be 100% sure of that at this point. At least Dad has ceased bleeding for now, but he's had to have two more units of blood and a unit of plasma to top him off again.
He was carefully intubated for the procedure, in case his lungs started to fail, which they did not. Hopefully they will remove it tomorrow. I really hate seeing him hooked up to a ventilator again, dammit. But he was able to mouth "I love you" around the tube.
Before the procedure, which was dangerous for him in his general poor health, he was holding my hand and said he loved me. I knew then that if we lost him on the table that at least my last memory with him was a good one. But thankfully it wasn't my last one. I hope my last one won't be for a long time.
Didn't get to go to the Federal building and get my fingerprints for immigration done today, since it was running too close to the time of Dad's procedure. Amanda's picking me up from the hospital at 10:00 in the morning, and hopefully I can then seal it and the cover letter up in the envelope and have her mail it out for me.
This is almost like going to work. I get my stuff done in the evenings, pack my lunch for the next day, lay out my clothes. At 6:30am I jump up when Debbie calls to wake us up, make coffee, get dressed, throw on mascara and brow pencil and sometimes yellow-hued concealer to hide my very black undereye circles. On the way to the hospital, we run through the drive-thru and get breakfast. The morning is spent consulting doctors and nurses, visiting with Dad, and finding out general info for the day. Then Mom needs to smoke, so we go outside for a bit, then go back up to the room and eat the lunch we brought. There's usually one to two more trips outside, and a trip to the south pavilion of the lobby to get vanilla coffee at the Java Hut. Then Debbie comes and we head home, and repeat the whole process.
Going to throw laundry in the dryer, make my valerian tea, and go to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will pass without dangerous incident. Mom and I are going Christmas shopping in the evening, wheeee.
Physical issues: Bleeding internally again, this time more severely. The blood was thin and diluted, but it was bright crimson, which meant it was coming from somewhere in his lower GI tract. They had to give him two units of blood last night to compensate for the loss. His liver, lungs, and pancreas are improving little by little, but his kidney function is slowly beginning to fail again. His whole abdomen was tender and painful. Amptuation site is looking excellent, but the incision where H'Doubler went in and removed the haematoma is starting to look infected. They were switching antibiotics to one that wouldn't harm his kidneys. Bicarbonate level in blood dropped alarmingly in the course of a few hours.
Mental issues: Excellently awake and alert. Responsive and comprehending as usual, though the pain he was in, general physical weakness, and the feeding tube in his throat prevented him from talking very clearly. He was strangely clingy to us today, especially to me, but I'm not sure if it was because he was confused or fearful.
Stuff: My homeboy H'Doubler (lawl, Mandi... xD) called in to check the haematoma site and also to judge if Dad's got very bad circulation or not. We didn't get to talk to him. Dad taken in for endoscopy and colonoscopy. Ulcers are 25% healed and so is pancreas. No sign of perforations, additional ulcers, polyps, or cancer. Dr. Lee (the idiot who initially canceled this procedure and wrote down that it was Mom who did it) said that he found two strange spots up in the colon that he clamped to prevent problems with, but he said there was NO way that was the cause of the bleeding and that there was no way the bleeding was caused by Dad's waste tube system thing.
However, Dad's nurse, Lynne, was in the endoscopy room for the whole procedure. Frowning, she told Mom and I that that's not what was going on. She said these weird spots Lee clamped were about two inches inside and were most likely caused by the waste tube thing, which had been removed and not put back in, and that they were *probably* the cause of the severe bleeding, though we can't be 100% sure of that at this point. At least Dad has ceased bleeding for now, but he's had to have two more units of blood and a unit of plasma to top him off again.
He was carefully intubated for the procedure, in case his lungs started to fail, which they did not. Hopefully they will remove it tomorrow. I really hate seeing him hooked up to a ventilator again, dammit. But he was able to mouth "I love you" around the tube.
Before the procedure, which was dangerous for him in his general poor health, he was holding my hand and said he loved me. I knew then that if we lost him on the table that at least my last memory with him was a good one. But thankfully it wasn't my last one. I hope my last one won't be for a long time.
Didn't get to go to the Federal building and get my fingerprints for immigration done today, since it was running too close to the time of Dad's procedure. Amanda's picking me up from the hospital at 10:00 in the morning, and hopefully I can then seal it and the cover letter up in the envelope and have her mail it out for me.
This is almost like going to work. I get my stuff done in the evenings, pack my lunch for the next day, lay out my clothes. At 6:30am I jump up when Debbie calls to wake us up, make coffee, get dressed, throw on mascara and brow pencil and sometimes yellow-hued concealer to hide my very black undereye circles. On the way to the hospital, we run through the drive-thru and get breakfast. The morning is spent consulting doctors and nurses, visiting with Dad, and finding out general info for the day. Then Mom needs to smoke, so we go outside for a bit, then go back up to the room and eat the lunch we brought. There's usually one to two more trips outside, and a trip to the south pavilion of the lobby to get vanilla coffee at the Java Hut. Then Debbie comes and we head home, and repeat the whole process.
Going to throw laundry in the dryer, make my valerian tea, and go to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will pass without dangerous incident. Mom and I are going Christmas shopping in the evening, wheeee.