Update on my dad

Hey,

Just an update on my dad. Yesterday at 4PM the hospital called our house & told Dad to pack a bag, head in to the hospital in Coronation & then they were going to transfer him to the hospital in Red Deer. We were having a semi-normal day & dad was feeling not bad up until that point. We then went to Coronation & they said they found some irregular heartbeat stuff on the heart monitor dad wore last week & so he was sending him to Red Deer for observation/to see if they could get him an angiogram in Calgary.

So I drove dad up to Red Deer last night while mom & my brother stayed home to try to get a good night's sleep so they could be fresh/come up in the morning. They didn't get so good a sleep, but yeah, it sounded like a good idea.

I got dad checked into the hospital & he was having some chest/indigestion/fluttery heart stuff when he got in - mostly from the nervousness. They hooked him up to a heart/oxygen/blood pressure monitor & took blood for blood tests. We then waited in the emergency ward for a while (checked in at 8ish & were in the emergency ward until about 11:30 PM) & chatted as dad started to rest. The doctor came in & saw him & asked lots of questions & such. Her prognosis is much, much better. The doctor in Coronation told him 'instant retirement' and that he had a 50% chance of living more than 5 years. The doctor in Red Deer sort of shook her head at that & said that dad had a much better prognosis than that.

So they got Dad checked into ICU & I spent the night in one of the family rooms mostly sleeping. Today was spent trying to keep dad from going stir crazy, but yeah. They only have him hooked to the heart monitor now 'cause everything else looks good.

So, he's got a blockage somewhere which is limiting return blood flow. The angiogram (they pump a dye into your blood stream & they can watch where it goes so they know where, if anything, is blocked or whatever.). If they find blockages, they can either give him drugs to fix that, or do an angioplasty (expand the blocked vein/artery with a balloon & leave a shunt in there to keep the passage from constricting again), or bypass surgery.

The irregular heart beat thing is maybe another matter - he's got something wrong with his 'ventricular' pulses that cause his ventricles to just pump like crazy & that will screw up the heart flow & shut him down - if he coughs it can sort of 'reset' the circuit, but not guaranteed. So that's a bit scary, but they can address that in the hospital too (I think I have something similar, but it's with my 'arterial' pulses or something). Anyhow, they may be able to find stuff about that in the angiogram or else with have to do some electro-physiology to try to understand the source of the irregular heartbeat.

So it's a good news/ bad news day. Good that, so long as they can diagnose this stuff, they can likely fix it. Bad 'cause well, we're just not sure about how many tests, or how long it'll take to find this stuff and there's tiny risks that dad could have something bad happen between now & then - thought being at the hospital, they should be able to look after it.

Anyhow, they're trying to get him into Calgary - this will likely be on Wednesday or Thursday.

My brother, my mom& I came home tonight to pack & sort of address things at home & then we head up to Red Deer to camp out there for, well, not sure how long. My brother & I may try to spell each other off so that we can go back to our respective lives for a tiny break, but yeah, both mom & dad sort of need/want our presence.

It's emotionally hard on me. I'm a wreck tonight & shutting down. The time with dad last night & today have been fantastic, just good times to hang out, but it's been brutal 'cause there's been a number of times where I'm ready to just loose it & break down & panic & start shrieking or crying or something & yeah, I've had to kind of reign it all in to try to 'be there' for my dad.... Physically, my chest is all tight & I'm tired & yeah, just don't feel good - I'm all stressed.... so yeah, hopefully a good night's sleep will help.

It's been really hard to watch my parents suffer/hurt with this. Mom's trying to be tough & breaks down every so often. My dad doesn't really let on that anything's bugging him, but he seems frustrated with the sitting still & he seemed to not relish the idea of us not being there, though he understood the reasons, etc. & he really, really misses the family members who can't be here right now (my other brother & his wife & daughter).

I've gotten used to sort of facing stuff alone & just soldiering through, but it was sooooo, so hard to leave my dad alone tonight ot face his evening/morning without one of us. Love is hard 'cause it just makes you so much more vulnerable... you can look out for yourself & soldier on & lower expectations & stuff, & it's all OK, but it's when the people you love are hurting that it just really tears you up & you feel so defenseless....

Anyhow, yeah, I guess I'm pretty emotional & worry lots, but yeah, appreciate very much your thoughts, tears & prayers for my dad & the rest of our family.

Thanks,
Kirk