Went to see dad today and managed to talk to one of his doctors (yeah, he has like 3 I think). Dad is doing better. They have stopped the sedation however what he gets for pain does have some sedating effect.
Dad is awake but not totally there yet. Sometimes he will follow commands and other times he won't. Dr F said this is normal. That it will take awhile for all that sedation to work out of his system.
In the meantime if you touch dad or talk to him it startles him and his blood pressure shoots WAY up. It comes back down but still......
They are slowing trying to ween dad off the ventilator. They switch it to something called CPAP for several hours twice a day. Today they are starting to cut even the CPAP off and hook oxygen up to his trachea for an hour to see how it goes.
Dr F says it will be a long process to get dad off the vent and all (or most) of his medicines, and to work on his nutrition and get his strength back. Oh and it could take a while for his mental state to get back to normal.
I was also told that it could take weeks maybe months before dad will come back home. He will more than likely have to go to a rehab place after the hospital and before coming home.
I am not going to see him tomorrow. He had such a big and tiring day today and I think he needs the rest. The nurse agrees that he seemed really tired today and when anyone talks to him or touches him his blood pressure goes up -- it will soon start to come down -- and that tomorrow they will probably try all the tests they did today the switching from the ventilator to CPAP for a few hours and then later cut all that off and try just oxygen for a little while. Today he did just oxygen for about an hour and the nurse said it was very tiring for him.
Keep those prayers going up for dad and me. Don't forget to pray for Aunt Betty who is also in the hospital.
Kathy
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