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Dad went back to the hospital on Friday.....

Just got off the phone with the hospital. He's doing fine, but his proximal colon is dilated and he's going to do a consult with G.I. doctors to do a scope to determine the issue. He sounded very optimistic about it and that itself took a load off of my mind. I'd almost expected the worst.
 
The hospital called me back a short time later yesterday with the same news I'd heard before except he was on a breathing machine because he just wasn't breathing well enough on his own after surgery. He was unsure of why, but some patients are slower to recover and that's probably the case here. They're going to gradually ween him off of it and see how he responds.
 
He's scheduled for a colonoscopy today. They performed incisions in his skin and took a look inside the other day with a scope. That's clean and so is his CT but there's still something going on. I saw him Saturday and spoke with him today. He seems better than he was, and the pain isn't as intense. He should be back in the Rehab Center before Thanksgiving, and we'll go spend some time with him there. But like I said the other day - I hope this is a wakeup call. He's let himself go and he's simply just given up on everything.
 
J.J. McDaniels said:
. . . I hope this is a wakeup call. He's let himself go and he's simply just given up on everything.
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He is the only one who can decide if it is a wakeup call. But perhaps a psychologist/therapist might be a good place to look to for some life coaching for him. If he is willing to talk to someone.
 
I went back and read the whole post again, seems to me something else is going on besides the health issue. Your dad is 68, I'm 65 and can run circles around my help thats half my age. I know everyone is different but 68 isn't that old. I thing one place to look is the anxiety meds he has been on. There may be some depression going on as well. Has he been taking any kind of pain meds? I brought my dad to live with me when he was 86 for the same reasons, he got to where he couldn't do it himself. One of the things I discovered is he was on pain meds. He was complaining about being constipated all the time. There was no reason for him to be on pain meds. After I took them away, a week later he could go without a problem. I asked him why he was taking pain meds and his answer was his doctor prescribed them so he took them. Lots of times there are worse side effects to meds that they do good in my opinion. Anyway maybe audit his medication.
 
m1west said:
There may be some depression going on as well.
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I can read it in his face, but he won't talk about it. I had put the Rehab Center to do a consult with him to see if he'd open up about anything, but then he went back to the hospital.

m1west said:
Has he been taking any kind of pain meds?
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Not that I'm aware of. But he's on way too many meds IMO. The anxiety med he's on is extremely addictive and the withdrawals are just as equally severe. But he's got a hell of a long road ahead of him, and I'm not entirely sure things will be the way they were before. I hope I'm wrong.
 
J.J. McDaniels said:
I can read it in his face, but he won't talk about it. I had put the Rehab Center to do a consult with him to see if he'd open up about anything, but then he went back to the hospital.


Not that I'm aware of. But he's on way too many meds IMO. The anxiety med he's on is extremely addictive and the withdrawals are just as equally severe. But he's got a hell of a long road ahead of him, and I'm not entirely sure things will be the way they were before. I hope I'm wrong.
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Sounds like you are on top of everything. I wish I had the answer.
 
Colonoscopy came back clean. They didn't see anything major, but he's now scheduled for an upper GI X-Ray tomorrow morning to see if they missed anything. The tube that was in his nose has been removed, and he's doing well on his clear liquid diet. We're going to see him tomorrow and Thursday.
 
He has gastroparesis. It's a partial paralysis of the stomach in which food isn't being properly digested. It can be treated with medications or surgery. He seemed a little tired, but he also seems to be making some progress. And he's walking again with the use of his walker. I hope we're finally seeing a turnaround, but it's still too early to tell. He still has a long way to go.
 
They ran another X-Ray on him shortly before we left. They didn't discuss it with us directly, but I heard what his nurse told him. They're put him through probably almost every test imaginable. But that took a load off of my shoulders.
 
He’s scheduled to be released and sent back to rehab today. The latest scan revealed the presence of nodules on his lungs and he’s due in for a CAT scan in a few weeks. Most likely, it’s an infection. His breathing is normal, he’s pain free and his vitals are fine.
 
He was sent back to the hospital. His oxygen level was at 81%. Pneumonia is possible. But what makes this whole thing so bleak is that he feels he's dying. Things happen. I get it. I'm old enough. But it still f**king sucks.
 
I am so sorry to see this...

I will say a prayer for dad to get better and come home soon.
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pirate_girl said:
I wouldn't say anything to him about it just yet.
Praying you have strength to get through this.
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Thank you. The saddest part about this is that we expected it with Ginger when he was away. We were going to take her to the vet to get her shots updated because that's overdue and then take her to see him for a while. I won't tell him just yet, but I've got to tell my stepsister. I'm waiting until she gets home from work. I don't want to upset her.
 
Hang in there, I know it really sucks right now but it will pass, I got mine in 2014-15 and I'm sure history will repeat its self at some point. I don't know why things go the way they do but it seems when the problems start it attracts more problems.
 
The latest is Congestive Heart Failure and he tested positive for the type B flu. They’ve pumped out some the liquid, and he’s hooked up to a breathing machine. I mentioned the presence of the pulmonary nodules and they’re going to look into it. He doesn’t know anything about Ginger, but we’re going to get her cremated today and have her ashes put into a necklace for him.
 
I went through this with my father the hardest part was when he said no more chemo he was 82 and said it just wasnt worth it anymore we (my sister and I and his woman freind) talked to him saw his point and we supported his desision.
I hope you never get to that point.
The hospital got him home comfortable he got to enjoy the time he had left instead of being poked prodded by people he dint know.
I just hope when its my time I have the balls to do his way its tough but some times "better".


tom
 
tommu56 said:
I went through this with my father the hardest part was when he said no more chemo he was 82 and said it just wasnt worth it anymore we (my sister and I and his woman freind) talked to him saw his point and we supported his desision.
I hope you never get to that point.
The hospital got him home comfortable he got to enjoy the time he had left instead of being poked prodded by people he dint know.
I just hope when its my time I have the balls to do his way its tough but some times "better".


tom
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The single, one most thing I dread the most is getting a phone call late at night or very early morning telling me he’s passed. I’m bracing for that at this point. The rest of my family has no hope. I still do. Someone has to.
 
Today, I made the difficult decision of taking my dad off of life support. His organs are just shutting down. He showed signs of progress, but there was always a setback. COPD. Congestive heart failure. Pneumonia and the flu. He’s been sedated for the past two weeks and they were prepping to ween him off of things, but then his kidneys started to fail. He was put on a dialysis machine, they pumped a lot of fluid, and then his heart started to weaken.

He’s hooked up to everything. We’re waiting for a pastor and they’ll shut down everything.
 
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