|
navigate inspired by host |
|
heart attack My Dad had a heart attack on Monday. When Mom called me after work to let me know that the paramedics had just taken Dad to the hospital, I wasn't at all surprised. When Mom and I had come home on Saturday after shopping all day, he told me that he'd had some chest pains and had to take 3 of his nitroglycerin pills. I told him that he needed to call the doctor. And told him again when I came on Sunday. But he refused. As usual. Mom had the kids over on Monday, and Dad was sticking close to them. Even when they went outside to blow bubbles. Which is very unusual for my father--he always sits in his chair in the bedroom. Just after 5pm, my dad told my mom that she needed to call 911. He was waiting for my brother to come home and get Heath and Hayden before he'd have her call. *sigh* So, I called Jess and canceled my dinner plans with her and Danny...in tears. Calmed myself down and then called Artboy to let him know...and erupted into tears again. He said he'd start calling people to find someone to cover for him, and I told him that wasn't necessary. We didn't even know what was going on yet. He wanted to come pick me up and drive me to the hospital--I told him I would be fine once I stopped talking about it and got on the road. Which I was. Arrived at the hospital, found a parking spot, and made my way to the ER. Told the guy at the desk that they'd brought my dad to the ER, and he looked him up and said that someone...probably my mom...had just gone back to see him and they only allowed one visitor at a time. And he wouldn't tell me anything. So I sat down, grabbed my iPod touch, and started listening to music to keep my mind occupied. About an hour later, Artboy called and said he was on his way. And I was worried beyond belief, but hoping that because my mom was in there, all was fine. I kept thinking that she'd come out to look for me, since I'd told her I was on my way. She finally came out, and they let me back there with him. The docs originally said he didn't have a heart attack, but that they would be admitting him to run more tests. I came out of his room, and Artboy was in the waiting room...I sent him back to see my dad, and when Mom came out to let me go back in, Dad looked perked up. He was thoroughly enjoying Artboy's visit. The nurse came in and said they were going to move him upstairs right away, so Artboy and I came out to let Mom know and she went in to wait with him. 45 min later, Mom came out and told me they weren't moving him right away. That his blood tests came back and showed that he'd had a heart attack...and was probably still having one, as his indicator levels were quite high. Artboy and I decided to go home. And I started calling my half sisters to let them know what was going on. I got ahold of Mallory, and she asked if I was going to call Mary and Myra and I told her I didn't have their phone numbers...hoping she'd call them. But nope. She thanked me for calling them and gave me their phone numbers. They didn't answer, so I had to leave a message. I slept on the couch. And Myra called and woke me up at 6pm...after having fallen asleep sometime after 3:30. I called the hospital to find out how he was doing, and then tried to go back to sleep. It took awhile, but I finally did...for a little. Then my mom called. I told her I would be going down to the hospital at 11'ish. She called again a little after 10:15, waking me up again, letting me know that the nurse had called and let her know that dad was going down for a procedure and not to come until at 2. We agreed to go together, after stopping for lunch. When we arrived, we discovered he had actually just been taken for the procedure (which my father had vehemently said he would not do the night before), so Mom and I sat in there and waited. The nurse who brought him back said that there were blockages in 4 ventricals and that in his experience, they would be suggesting surgery. Which floored mom and I. Neither of us had ever considered surgery being a possibility. I'm not sure why not...maybe we just didn't want to think about that being an option. Tho I guess it hadn't entered any of our minds...because when I told my half sisters, they couldn't believe it either. The doc told us that there was a lot of disease in the heart...one almost complete blockage, and several more that were 50 percent blocked or more. They were recommending a triple, possibly quadruple bypass. I figured my dad would not do it. Especially since he was so against taking blood thinners & aspirin and doing the cardio cath the night before. But when mom asked him what his thoughts were on the subject, he said that he'd have to do it. That if he didn't, he was done. Which shocked the both of us. But I was happy he had agreed to do it. He was scheduled for surgery for Wednesday morning, and the nurse, Kara, allowed us all to come and stay as long as possible before he was taken in for his vein mapping that night. In fact, when they came 20 min early, she made them go and come back. I can't tell you how thankful we all were. She was a wonderful, special nurse. She let us come back at 5:00am to spend time with him before pre-op, and dad was pretty positive. They moved him to pre-op, and we were still able to be with him...worried though that my brother hadn't made it to see him before he went in. As soon as we got to pre-op, my phone went off, so I went out in the hallway and called him back, met him at the elevators, and managed to find my way back to where dad was. And let him see dad. It was a hard wait. But the surgeon came out an hour earlier than we'd planned and said that it was finished and that he had done well. They only did a triple bypass. He said there was more disease in the aorta then they had anticipated, but he tried to graph to a place w/ less disease. The last several days have been spent in the hospital for most of the day. In ICU, they let us stay in there the entire time. When he was moved to telemetry, they said we could stay, but today, they kicked us out for most of the day. I slept in today, and ended up only getting to see him a half hour before they kicked us out. We waited for a couple hours, and then the nurse came back out and asked us to stay out. He was having a very tough time breathing. Today was a very bad day. Yesterday, he had done so well...he was up walking around the pod...eating. Today...he'd eat nothing...he didn't walk...and he seemed real down. There is talk that they might move him back up to the ICU. It's like he moved 3 steps backwards. But the worst part...was when mom asked him how he was doing and he held up his finger and thumb like a gun, pulled the trigger, and said bang. Today was a very bad day. I hope tomorrow is better. |