Yesterday with Dad

So hmm... I really think that when all is said and done, I will look back and wish I had journaled this experience. So I will keep updateing the blog. I will keep writing in medical terms... sorry if you don't get it but... this is for me! ;o)

I got a call from mom a little after 7 asking me what time I would be at the hospital. My dad's heart rate had become "erratic" and he had left Normal Sinus Rhythm sometime early morning and had been in Atrial Fib. Mom was obviously worried about this... so was I! They told us that this happens 50% of the time. I guess we all want my dad to be the OTHER 50% who never experiences any of these semi-normal sidetracks from a PERFECT recovery. When I arrived he was laying in bed looking incredibly uncomfortable with a wet washcloth on his head and a non-rebreather blowing at 15L. (It's an oxygen mask... but not the kind you want on! It's the last step before ventillation!) I think seeing him like that just added to my frustration from the day before. I went out in the hall to talk to his nurse and saw a nurse I LOVE from the float pool and the flood gates just opened. Too much pain... not enough orneryness.

So the Cardiovascular PA came in and told us that he was doing GREAT... (could of fooled me!) He explained that if the medication he was on did not put him back into normal sinus rhythm by the next day, they would just put him to sleep for a minute and shock his heart to see if it would go back. Otherwise he said that some people LIVE in Atrial Fib for 30+ years. Hmm... good to know that it's okay... but... yeah... not really what any person who needs to do some serious rehab wants to hear. The PA also ordered the chest tubes out. Unfortunately... the charge nurse had other ideas. She was convinced that my dad was starting with pneumonia and insisted that the PA get a chest x-ray before they removed them. (It took 3 hours to get the CXR and another 4 hours to get the tubes out!) BLAH!!!! When all was said and done, the PA won and the chest tubes DID come out around 4. Also in the course of the day, his heart went back into Normal Sinus Rythm. WOOHOO!!!!

So there was a lot of progess physically in the course of yesterday. Unfortunately... he seems mentally TIRED, maybe even a little defeated. I can't begin to imagine how much pain he is in and I know that he occasionally wonders if it's really worth all this to be alive. Part of this mind set comes from the fact that this MAJOR surgery is not an easy fix. It's a bandaid really. It does not guarantee he will live until he dies of something other than his heart. It basically gives him up to 10 years before he will need more cardiac interventions. At the ripe old age of 53, that could mean 3 more MAJOR surgeries if he wants to keep on keeping on. Depression is a big part of these types of surgeries, but mental stamina is key to recovery. For the most part it's up to him whether he gets better or worse. He has got to get out of bed, WALK, use his Insentive Spirometer (to prevent pneumonia) and insist on getting better. I'm heading up to the hospital again today. I think I'm going to kick his butt a little. (OR maybe a lot.) We'll see how it goes. But I plan to be there about 4 hours and in that time I desperately want him to walk at least twice and use the IS at least 4 times. I also want him out of the bed the entire time! WISH ME LUCK!!