I've been a little slow...

Like the title says, I've been a little slow. I've been meaning to post updates for a couple days now. Guess it's time...

Dad's back at home. They discharged him on Saturday. It was actually good timing too. I was just getting ready to go see him when I noticed a voicemail message from Courtney. She had called to get my help to move a treadmill to their place for him since Tye's sick, but when I called her back she said that Gail had called back and said he won't be able to use it for quite some time. I suppose he must have moved out to the ward Friday, because he was still in the ICU Thursday and I doubt they would discharge anybody directly from the ICU...

Now I just need to call him and see how he's doing!

A new update

I spoke to Gail today. Sounds like Dad will be going out to the ward tomorrow provided there's a bed. Everybody will be able to go see him then.

Other news:
He was siting up today for stretches of up to 1/2 an hour today.

The disorientation Courtney mentioned on Sunday WAS just drug -induced, but it got bad enough that they had to tie him down - literally - until the sedatives could take effect so that he could sleep through it.

It sounds like we're just now finding out how bad a heart attack it really was. Dad spent his whole time on the 5th floor on a heart pump. I (along with Gail and everyone else I spoke to) thought this was normal for a heart attack victim, but it's actually reserved for people in the worst of shape. Wow. Glad we didn't know that last week.

Apparently, it's a really good thing he's quit smoking too. As long as he doesn't start again, not that I really expect him to. Gail was saying her family doctor was saying that if he were to re-start it would quadruple his chances of having another one. Ouch.

Apparently recovery will be pretty long too - somewhere around 6 weeks - and there will likely be a good while of physiotherapy. It might even be a bit yet before he's walking.

Now that I'm back to my regular hours I won't be able to see him until Friday. I'll have more then.

A little lightness

Thanks to Leanne. You'll have to have Microsoft PowerPoint or at least the reader (Get it here) to see it, but it's hilarious!

Enjoy!

Another update

I went to see dad yesterday. It was like nothing had happened. Well, if you can ignore all the tubes and machines, anyway. All last week, he was thinking that it was Thursday on Monday, Friday on Wednesday. Yesterday, he not only knew it was Saturday, but that it was the 3rd. He wasn't particularly sure about it, but after the bugging we gave him about not knowing what day it was all last week, I really can't blame him.

He does have more tubes in him now, but I think they'll be going away soon. There are only 3 IV needles in him, but some of them have multiple tubes.

All in all, his spirits are WAY up, which HAS to be a good thing. They even took him off the heart pump and from what the nurse was saying, he hasn't had a blip on his vitals since they brought him into the unit. All very good signs.

Surgery has been done!

Well, the surgery happened today. I didn't go in today after all. I decided there wouldn't be much point. If the surgery was in the morning, he'd still be pretty out of it, and if it was in the afternoon he'd be in surgery. I did talk to Courtney though. Looks like they did 4 bypasses. Dad was still WAY out of it when she and Gail left. They've moved him to the 3rd floor ICU - I'll have the room number tomorrow. The doctor was saying in Wednesday that he'll be there for at least 1 day, and possibly as long as a week, so there's still no point in many people going to see him yet. I'm going to see him tomorrow though, so I'll have a better idea what's going on by late afternoon.

Mostly good news and a little bad news.

I had good timing at the hospital today. The doctor came by while I was there. He said that if everything stays the same, they'll try to get dad in for surgery on Friday. It also looks like one of the arteries is better than they initially thought. the 95% one is closer to 60%. Good news for Dad.

The bad news is that it's officially a big heart attack. I had thought that if he could function without too much trouble for a day and a half, it must have been a relatively minor one. Oops.

I'm not sure if I'll make it in to see him tomorrow, I have a lot I need to do before work, but I'll have something Friday for sure.