Well I know its a good sign when my dad keeps trying to talk but no sound keeps coming out. It's like playing charades or password with him. We are terrible at this game. The nurses say he is responding more to their commands, so my dad understands us. We just don't understand him, ugh I need to hire a lip reader. Well he has been doing well today. The trauma nurses and doctors are working hard to fix Mr. V again. One of the nurses who tended to my dad stopped my mom this morning and said he was glad my dad was doing better and that he checks on him everyday even when he is not assigned to him to make sure my dad was doing well. Nurse Jennifer II and Jennifer IV said he has been charming and flirty shhhhhhhhh don't tell my mom. That's the Mr. V we know and love. He has had no complications today and believe me this makes our day. I keep reminding my dad all the time, we love him, we all love him and want him to get better.
Mr. V is doing it! My mom went early to the hospital, I was running late of course. When I got to the hospital she was already in the STICU seeing my dad. She came out to the waiting area and said "Awesome, Awesome, Awesome" My mom timed it just right to see the doctors making there rounds. She waited until they got to my dad and she heard Dr. Cotton going over all the tests they have done on my dad, e.g. his ammonia level. Every time they would go down the lists of tests and say my dad's levels Dr. Cotton would respond Awesome! They are reducing the medications they are giving him. His levels are slowly returning to normal. I finally realized they are testing my dad for EVERYTHING! They want all levels of everything that should be normal output for our bodies to test normal. Its going to take some time for him to go back to normal but the doctors see him making progress once again. Dr. Cotton reminded my mom "small steps" and that it would be a long time. He is still on dialysis and less fluid is coming out of his chest. The drugs they are giving for his jaundice is going to take a while to kick in so he is still yellow. My dad is responding better and he is doing more and more each day to try and communicate. He mouthed the words "Water" to my mom, to say he was thirsty. I about cried that is the first time he has tried to mouth words. She told him he couldn't have any water but that the nurse will wet his lips with a damp cloth.
As far as his infection, it wasn't a mystery infection really, his colon was inflamed and causing the levels in his body to go haywire and cause the fever and increase in white blood cells. They put him on new medicine yesterday and they said he is responding to it well and the dialysis has helped a lot. His white blood cell levels have not gone down but they have not increased either but the doctors said he just started the medicine so it will be a little while before it starts to really work. I know they are being conservative in telling us remember small steps and we know but we are just happy to see him recover bit by bit. He is still in his "rotisserie" bed as Nurse Jennifer IV calls it. He needs that bed to keep up his circulation and help his lungs, which by the way look healthy. Well I will keep everyone posted if there are further developments. Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers, he knows that a lot of people care for him and want him to recover.
I forgot my laptop so I apologize for the late post; I have to wait until the community computers are free in the waiting area. My mom and I saw my dad today at 2:00 pm finally after two hours of waiting. They were giving him a bath and other stuff before they let us go back there to see him. We met a new nurse, Nurse Jennifer, who happens to be the fourth Nurse Jennifer that has tended to dad, so she is Nurse Jennifer, IV. Jennifer, IV told us that nothing exciting has happened and that he has been pretty stable. His fever has not come back and his blood pressure is normal. He is in this new fancy bed of course and it was rotating him side to side when we got there. He blinked his eyes really well while we were there to let my mom know he is aware that we were there talking to him. He is still on dialysis and still will be until the renal doctor checks his kidneys and makes sure they are getting better. I just felt so much better when the nurse said "nothing exciting has happened." I always remembered what my cousin's friend said who is a doctor, she said you never want doctors or nurses to be excited about your condition, you want them to be bored because that means its nothing really serious. Mr. V is fighting more and more each day. I know this will be a long recovery with setbacks but for every little setback there are giant leaps towards progression. Again thank you for your thoughts and prayers, its working.
Jonathan and I went to see my dad late this evening. Due to an emergency in the STICU with another patient it was on lockdown again. Finally, we were able to see him. His eyes were open again. I was telling him stories and he was able to move his mouth a little and his eyes and eyebrows. He was on his dialysis machine and its a 24 hour dialysis machine. This way it can really help out his kidneys. They had done a CAT SCAN again to see if maybe they could find anything else that may be adding to the infection they found nothing. The New Nurse said they could not find any other infections in his body. She told us he was stable and that he had no fever and that his blood pressure is normal. She said she took him off of one blood pressure medicine. He is in a new type of bed that he is strapped to so they can rotate him from side to side while he is on dialysis. This is supposed to help the lungs she said. I am not sure what she meant by that but I was just to busy being happy that she said he was doing fine so far. Now we just have to pray he stays fever free and normal blood pressure through the night. His heart rate is high but they are going to figure out what to do in the morning when the doctors do their rounds. Also the renal doctor (for his kidney's) will come too, to check out his kidneys to see if they are doing any better. I am praying that they will do better and that he will fight this infection. He has come so far from such serious injuries, he has some fight left in him.
My mom spoke with the doctors this afternoon about my dad's condition. He is not doing well. He still has an infection and they cannot tell where its coming from. This is causing low blood pressure and his kidney's are failing, renal failure. He is starting dialysis right now so they can sustain his metabolic and remove toxins in his body. If they cannot find the source of the infection and treat it correctly his organs will shut down one at a time. Right now they are treating his jaundice with a medicine called Actigal. The only little light was that he still has a fever but its at a good level, but his white blood cells are high. In my heart its not time for my dad so he needs to fight this. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts. It was really hard to type this post but I had to because with every journey to recovery there are obstacles that can be conquered.
Well I am waiting to see my dad, they have the STICU in "lockdown" as my mom said. They are doing a procedure on one of the patients (not my dad) and will not let anyone in until its done. My mom did get to see my dad this morning and she said he was trying to move his eyes more and he moves his eyebrows. When the respiratory therapist was talking my dad tried to move his head to see who was talking, he almost did it but the respiratory therapist helped him move his head. So he is almost there folks. I am going to tell him about Dr. Red Duke today and Pollie of course (his favorite grandpuppy). I am going to tell him about how everyone is praying for him. I will wait to tell him about the Nurse Sunshine incident. Other then that just hanging out with my family today which is great. My Aunt Lee brought me a pic of my dad and my mom from 1974 so you know that is going on the slide show. Nothing says looking good like my dad in his leisure suit. Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers, its working!
Once again we cannot thank family and friends enough for showing their support and love through this difficult time. We appreciate everything you have done for us. Whether it be dinner from Diamond S (still in that Nacho Coma), prayers, blessings, Big GINORMOUS gift baskets, cards, flowers, being there, you name it we are appreciative of all you do. Mr. V is progressing in the right direction, again tonight he opened his eyes and still communicates with his eyebrows, we said he is doing morse code with them. That's all to report for now! We love you all so much!
