:D

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Current mood:  hopeful Small blessings – it’s time for a happy post! Dad survived the first few days in the ICU, the remaining effects of the blood transfusion and the first of his heart surgeries. It’s kind of ironic to think that this whole time we’ve been so worried about and wrapped up with cancer, but it’s a long-time pre-existing heart condition that nearly killed him!  Funny in a very macabre way.  The dark heart candidate instead of the dark horse. Last night, about 9pm, they moved him from the ICU to IMCU (intermediate care unit), and they’re going to try and leave him there until the second of his heart surgeries on Monday morning.  He has his own nurse at all times, because he can be a bit of a pill.  It’s not that he’s mean to anyone.  He can be quite a charmer when he wants to be.  It’s just that my dad is highly intelligent and extremely interested in medicine.  He knows everything about everything.  So to be in a hospital for days on end, hooked up to all kinds of breathing tubes and electrodes is like being part of the world’s greatest science experiment, all about him.  For example, two days ago, when he was still more of a human shaped morphine holder than a man, the nurses came to give him Verapamil for his heart.  I asked what it was, they told me, and dad has a moment of perfect lucidity as he asks, “Isn’t that a calcium-channel blocker?”  Then he passed out again.  Once they got over their shock, the nurses really seemed to like him after that.  Good for us. So, it’s good news for us as Dad continues to recover from this latest ordeal, and bad news for the nurses, as he gets bored and begins to experiment with his medical apparatus in his bed.  Yesterday, before I left, he was holding his breath to see how long it took before his oxygen monitor (he still can’t breathe on his own) would start sounding the alarm.  Once he figured that out, he had to repeat it several times for test validity.  The nurses LOVED that. For the future, we don’t really know.  He has another heart surgery on Monday to do a proceedure on his mitral valve, which was completely destroyed.  The doctors do not believe that his body can withstand a replacement surgery, due to his general condition and cancer, etc. and are trying to see if he can live with a patch job.  We will see how that works.  In the meantime, the smaller metastasis under his arm has gotten smaller, but his liver tumor is larger.  We are unsure if he will be able to live without oxygen again, either.  But today, I’m focusing on the small victories and blessings – a few hours of sleep for Dad, and some for me, too.  (That helped a LOT.)  A reduction from a full oxygen face mask to a nose tube, a good appetite, sitting up in bed, and kind nursing staff.  I am hoping I will get to go back to work on Tuesday, too – if only for part days for a bit.  I actually miss that place!