Just a quick little update for family and friends on Dad.
Today he said that he could feel himself improving as the day went on. He could feel his lungs getting clearer. He was able to get up for a little walk. He was transitioned from progressive care to the med-surgical.
I can tell he's hanging in there okay based on the following:
1. He had energy to read The New York Times and part of a book on gender and law. When my dad stops wanting his NYT and sociology books...well, then it is really time to worry! When Mom went up to visit today, she said it looked like he had brought his office to the hospital with him.
2. He likes to talk a lot normally, but on the steroids, he is even MORE talkative. He is so high on steroids I don't think he realizes how tired he will be when he comes home. And we all wonder how I got to be such a talker?
3. He is really enjoying telling his 'warrior stories' about his medical experiences, especially those that happened at the urgent care facility before his ambulance ride to the ER.
I am really not trying to make light of this situation here. However, I think that he has really received excellent care and monitoring so far. I've been impressed by how careful they have been in terms of monitoring his heart during the pneumonia and he's seen both an internist and a cardiologist. We/he had a little scare when he had an abnormal EKG, but all (extensive) follow-up has showed things are good. He will do a stress test in a few weeks to make sure the pneumonia did not affect his heart in any way.
It was a bit hard to have two parents in a short time span go through being monitored with EKGs, stress tests, blood enzymes, etc. With Dad, though, we were pretty sure that what happened to him (near fainting, fast heart rate) was the result of the pneumonia (it was). At first Mom and Abbie kept withheld all of this information so that I wouldn't freak out! :P
I'm hopeful that he will continue to improve, and I really think that we have learned a LOT about how to prevent this from happening again. (He's very prone to respiratory infections due to other pre-existing conditions).
Tonight, Dad said that he felt so much better that it was really amazing in the sense that he didn't realize HOW sick he was to begin with. Now that he is starting to improve, he can really see the difference. He's been a real trooper about the entire hospital stay (at least to me on the phone), and I'm honestly super proud of him because he is someone who hates a basic blood draw.
We are not sure yet of his release date...but I'll keep y'all updated as I am able! It is going to be harder to get him to pace himself when he goes home. (I dread this part, but Abbie is going to have to deal with it more than I am--thankfully she is PATIENT!!! :)).
Thanks for all of the good thoughts and prayers.. We DO agree that we all need to stay out of the hospital for a while! I have been blessed with relatively healthy parents and NO hospital stays for either of them in my entire 35 years, so this has all been a little surreal.
While dad was in the hospital seeing one cardiologist from the practice we all go to, I was seeing another of the cardiologists. I wonder what sort of frequent flier/patient miles we can accrue to use towards a healthy year next year?
Blessings,
Emily
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