Dad
At 6:15 am Friday, my phone rang. it was mom. My mom rarely calls, and never in the morning of a work day, unless something is seriously wrong. My first guess was that my grandmother (her mother) who is nearly 90 and quite frail, had become seriously ill, or had died. I was wrong.
My father had a heart attack. Mom called the ambulance at around midnight thursday night because he was having chest pain and trouble breathing. They took him to the local emergency room and admitted him, then did an angioplasty, which showed 3 coronary arteries with substantial blockages. He then was flown to Hershey Medical Center, which is about 15 miles from where I live, in preparation for bypass surgery.
It's been a rollercoaster. Every time they lay out a course of action, they seem to encounter a roadblock. They won't do bypass surgery for a few days because he was given Plavix at the Emergency Room. They can't send him home to wait for the Plavix to clear because he has a blood clot in his heart. My mother wants to be with him but he is 100 miles from home. She doesn't want to miss too much time off work. She IS eligible to retire and plans to do so in January. I wonder if she should consider retiring right now.
Darrin, Chris & I went to see him on Friday. He was in ICU at that time. Tired, pale, with very cold hands & feet but alive and in pretty good spirits. They had given him morphine to east the pain in his chest as well as his arm from the angioplasty incision. He has been up all night, with a chance to doze here & there. While we were there, one of the cardiologists came in to give him some more test results. This event was not a "heart attack" per se. No cardiac enzymes in his blood = no Myocardial infarction. But his EKG is altered. He has symptoms of early stage congestive heart failure.
As of today, this is the plan. He cannot have surgery until at least Tuesday because of the Plavix. Ordinarily he would have been allowed to go home until then but because of the blood clot he is at increased risk of stroke and it is not safe for him to travel. So, he is going to stay at the hospital. Surgery will be on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then a 5-day expected recovery, and then home.
Bowers men have a strong tendency to die between the ages of 55 & 65. My dad is 64.
I'm not ready to lose him yet.
My father had a heart attack. Mom called the ambulance at around midnight thursday night because he was having chest pain and trouble breathing. They took him to the local emergency room and admitted him, then did an angioplasty, which showed 3 coronary arteries with substantial blockages. He then was flown to Hershey Medical Center, which is about 15 miles from where I live, in preparation for bypass surgery.
It's been a rollercoaster. Every time they lay out a course of action, they seem to encounter a roadblock. They won't do bypass surgery for a few days because he was given Plavix at the Emergency Room. They can't send him home to wait for the Plavix to clear because he has a blood clot in his heart. My mother wants to be with him but he is 100 miles from home. She doesn't want to miss too much time off work. She IS eligible to retire and plans to do so in January. I wonder if she should consider retiring right now.
Darrin, Chris & I went to see him on Friday. He was in ICU at that time. Tired, pale, with very cold hands & feet but alive and in pretty good spirits. They had given him morphine to east the pain in his chest as well as his arm from the angioplasty incision. He has been up all night, with a chance to doze here & there. While we were there, one of the cardiologists came in to give him some more test results. This event was not a "heart attack" per se. No cardiac enzymes in his blood = no Myocardial infarction. But his EKG is altered. He has symptoms of early stage congestive heart failure.
As of today, this is the plan. He cannot have surgery until at least Tuesday because of the Plavix. Ordinarily he would have been allowed to go home until then but because of the blood clot he is at increased risk of stroke and it is not safe for him to travel. So, he is going to stay at the hospital. Surgery will be on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then a 5-day expected recovery, and then home.
Bowers men have a strong tendency to die between the ages of 55 & 65. My dad is 64.
I'm not ready to lose him yet.