My dad is out of ICU now and into a regular room. Yea! He is progressing a lot faster than the doctors expected. I do think that it helps that he has doctor and nurses that work with him non-stop. He can also understand what they are saying to him.
It also helps that there isn't any "down time" here. The nurses are always around to answer questions, doctors come in when paged and PT everyday including Sundays.
This is a huge difference than what they are used to in L.A. so I think that my dad isn't having such a hard time here. Most other times that he has been in the hospital, three days is the limit that he can take before cussing everyone out. He has been in the hospital here for seven days now and is still saying, "Please" and "Thank you".
I have been trying to get my parents to move out here for years now... after this experience, I think that they will be here just as soon as my grandmother's house sells. :)
Kat and her best friends...
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Surgery or No Surgery?
Wednesday morning after much debate and lots and lots of tests, my dad was scheduled for surgery at 12pm. I got Katherine ready to go to school and I went over to the hospital to be with my mom and dad.
The nurse came into the room at about 10:30am and said that they were going to do one more x-ray at 12pm before surgery. They knew that there was a blockage on the left side but didn't know exactly where. We were not sure which type of x-ray that they were going to do so we asked the nurse if it was going to be the hour and half test or just a regular x-ray. Turns out, it was just a quick x-ray and we would find out the results within the hour.
Right before 1pm, we got the news that my dad was going to surgery. There were two nurses ready to take him down to pre-op. That really hit quick! In less than 10 minutes from hearing that he was going to have surgery, we were in the elevator going down to the pre-op room.
My dad was scheduled for surgery at about 3pm. I had to make other arrangements to have Katherine picked up from school since we were told that the surgery would take anywhere from one hour to an hour and a half. There were two nurses getting my dad ready and the doctors came in to answer any and all questions.
They weren't too sure where the blockage was but they had an idea. It was about 3:30pm by the time we were done asking questions and my dad was wheeled into surgery.
My mom and I waited. We joked to pass the time. At about 4:45pm, the surgery was over and the doctor came out to let us know how my dad was doing. He said that the blockage was from scar tissue but it was really thick so they just couldn't take that off, they had to take off about 2 inches of my dad's small intestine.
It would take my dad about 3 to 5 days to recover and everything would be back to normal except that at the end of surgery, he had very shallow breathing. That was to be expected due to the pneumonia. The doctor had my dad spend the night in ICU while he was on the ventilator.
According the the ICU nurse, my dad woke up fighting. He moved his right arm in which he hasn't moved since he had his first stroke in 2005. So, they sedated him for the night.
When my mom called the ICU this morning (Thursday), they said that they wanted to get him off of the ventilator but slowly. By about 11am, they had him off of the ventilator and he was able to talk.
All of his vitals are up and he is spending one more night in ICU as long as things go well tonight. The doctor will make the decision if he will move to a regular room tomorrow.
So, all is going well and it is just a waiting game. He is still being very nice and not cussing anyone out yet. Not too sure when that side of my dad will appear. :)
The nurse came into the room at about 10:30am and said that they were going to do one more x-ray at 12pm before surgery. They knew that there was a blockage on the left side but didn't know exactly where. We were not sure which type of x-ray that they were going to do so we asked the nurse if it was going to be the hour and half test or just a regular x-ray. Turns out, it was just a quick x-ray and we would find out the results within the hour.
Right before 1pm, we got the news that my dad was going to surgery. There were two nurses ready to take him down to pre-op. That really hit quick! In less than 10 minutes from hearing that he was going to have surgery, we were in the elevator going down to the pre-op room.
My dad was scheduled for surgery at about 3pm. I had to make other arrangements to have Katherine picked up from school since we were told that the surgery would take anywhere from one hour to an hour and a half. There were two nurses getting my dad ready and the doctors came in to answer any and all questions.
They weren't too sure where the blockage was but they had an idea. It was about 3:30pm by the time we were done asking questions and my dad was wheeled into surgery.
My mom and I waited. We joked to pass the time. At about 4:45pm, the surgery was over and the doctor came out to let us know how my dad was doing. He said that the blockage was from scar tissue but it was really thick so they just couldn't take that off, they had to take off about 2 inches of my dad's small intestine.
It would take my dad about 3 to 5 days to recover and everything would be back to normal except that at the end of surgery, he had very shallow breathing. That was to be expected due to the pneumonia. The doctor had my dad spend the night in ICU while he was on the ventilator.
According the the ICU nurse, my dad woke up fighting. He moved his right arm in which he hasn't moved since he had his first stroke in 2005. So, they sedated him for the night.
When my mom called the ICU this morning (Thursday), they said that they wanted to get him off of the ventilator but slowly. By about 11am, they had him off of the ventilator and he was able to talk.
All of his vitals are up and he is spending one more night in ICU as long as things go well tonight. The doctor will make the decision if he will move to a regular room tomorrow.
So, all is going well and it is just a waiting game. He is still being very nice and not cussing anyone out yet. Not too sure when that side of my dad will appear. :)
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Update...
So, my dad went into the hospital at 4:30am on Christmas morning. The doctors at John C. Lincoln hospital have been working with him non-stop since he arrived. They still don't have a conclusive solution as to where the blockage is.
The day after he was admitted, they continued to preform more tests on him. They also had physical therapy come in and work with him as well as let him sit in his wheelchair for a few hours. Nice that he didn't have to stay in bed the entire time.
Monday, they did a live culture test of his gall bladder. It was a two hour test making sure that his gall bladder is preforming properly. He had to have this tests because in previous tests, it showed that his gall bladder had sludge. We had a great nurse explain the procedure of the test and why he needed this test.
On Tuesday, he was given three of the same tests at different times of the day. Each test lasted about an hour and a half and they followed the dye from his nose down to finding where the blockage is. The doctors believe that the blockage is due from having his appendix out about 20 years ago. He built up a bunch of scar tissue with a flap. They think that the flap is closing off the small intestine.
With today being Wednesday, we will find out if he will need surgery or not.
The worst thing about this whole entire process is the fact that my dad hasn't been able to eat since December 23rd. He did have Christmas Eve dinner with us but it didn't stay down. Glad to hear that it wasn't my cooking. LOL.
Anyway... it was because of the blockage. He can't even keep little bits of water down either. He poor man must be starving. I am sure when he is all done with this, he will have a nice taco dinner with a huge glass of milk.
The day after he was admitted, they continued to preform more tests on him. They also had physical therapy come in and work with him as well as let him sit in his wheelchair for a few hours. Nice that he didn't have to stay in bed the entire time.
Monday, they did a live culture test of his gall bladder. It was a two hour test making sure that his gall bladder is preforming properly. He had to have this tests because in previous tests, it showed that his gall bladder had sludge. We had a great nurse explain the procedure of the test and why he needed this test.
On Tuesday, he was given three of the same tests at different times of the day. Each test lasted about an hour and a half and they followed the dye from his nose down to finding where the blockage is. The doctors believe that the blockage is due from having his appendix out about 20 years ago. He built up a bunch of scar tissue with a flap. They think that the flap is closing off the small intestine.
With today being Wednesday, we will find out if he will need surgery or not.
The worst thing about this whole entire process is the fact that my dad hasn't been able to eat since December 23rd. He did have Christmas Eve dinner with us but it didn't stay down. Glad to hear that it wasn't my cooking. LOL.
Anyway... it was because of the blockage. He can't even keep little bits of water down either. He poor man must be starving. I am sure when he is all done with this, he will have a nice taco dinner with a huge glass of milk.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas
We were able to celebrate Christmas with both sets of grandparents as well as David, Heidi, Dylan and Ryan. Katherine had so much fun running around with the two boys... "Follow me Boys!".
We had our famous roast beef dinner on Christmas Eve and opened family presents. Boy, that was a whirlwind! I am not sure who gave Katherine what but she was so excited to open up the presents. She was also such a great hostess by handing out presents to all of the grandparents. Katherine would also take presents over to daddy and open the presents together.
We got Katherine to bed at about 10pm and she was OUT!! Brett and I relaxed after a crazy night and then Santa came. At about 3:30pm, the phone rang. It was my mom and we were on our way to the hospital with my dad.
They started to do tests on him immediately ~ CAT Scan, X-Ray's, Blood work, etc...
At about 7:15am, my cell phone rang and it was Katherine saying, "Merry Christmas, Mama!". Oh, that really lifted me up. I also was on the phone with her when she walked out into the living room and saw her new Pink Bike from Santa. All she was point... she was in shock! Then, she asked if the presents were for her.
Even though I wasn't with her, I was able to hear everything and my wonderful husband recorded it all so I was able to watch it as well. It brought tears to my eyes.
At about 9am, my mom was told that my dad was going to be admitted to the hospital. So, I was able to go home and take a shower and spend a little time with Katherine and Brett. We opened the rest of the presents from Santa and Katherine has had such a fun time. She loved opening all of her presents, handing out presents and playing with her cousins.
Katherine and I took Brett to the airport at about 3pm and said good bye to him. He will be gone for about a week for work but she will have grandma here to play with.
We won't have any news with my dad until probably Monday. As of right now, he is cooperating which is really unusual. He went to the hospital in an ambulance with out a fight, and was happy to do all of the tests. I also just had a nurse call me to say how nice he is. Yea! Hopefully this will help his recovery.
Instead of ham for dinner tonight, it will just be Katherine and I until my mom returns from the hospital. We are going to have mac n' cheese and pizza for dinner.
I am thinking that we need to move Christmas to the middle of June since the past 5 out of 6 Christmas' have been celebrated at the hospitals. As nice as the nurses and doctors are, maybe if we have Christmas in June... it will just be our family. :)
Monday, December 20, 2010
Ms. BJ Update
I dropped Ms. BJ off this morning at 7:30am. It was hard to walk away but I knew that she was in good hands. There was another dog in the waiting room awaiting surgery as well. He was a big dog and when he turned around, I saw that he had a lump the size of a baseball on his neck.
When his mother left him the the tech, she had tears in her eyes. I started to have tears in my eyes as well as I felt really sad for that mother. I am hoping for the best outcome for her and her pup.
I gave BJ lots and lots of hugs and then the tech came out to go over the surgery and took BJ to the back.
It was about 1pm and Brett called to see how little Ms. BJ was doing. She was just on her way in and they said that they would call when she was done. My phone rang at 1:43pm and my heart sank. It was the vet saying the BJ was out of surgery and she did great. We could go pick her up at 3pm.
Ahhh... relief. Now, I just had to wait until I could go pick her up. I did my filing and when I reached the end, it was 3pm.
I walked into the office and was taken away into another room. The tech went over all of BJ's post op procedures and then went to get BJ. The tech said, "She will be a little groggy". The door opened and BJ ran right in. The tech was surprised how alert BJ was as it wasn't normal to be so alert. Yea!! She is okay.
So, you can hardly see what the surgery for her eye lid. The only give away is the fact that they had to shave the hair below her eye, other than that, she looks just fine.
She is a little groggy but Lucky is the happiest to see her. He has given her her space and curled right up next to her while she took a little nap.
Yea!! I am happy that all worked out in the end. Now it's time to start our Christmas celebration.
When his mother left him the the tech, she had tears in her eyes. I started to have tears in my eyes as well as I felt really sad for that mother. I am hoping for the best outcome for her and her pup.
I gave BJ lots and lots of hugs and then the tech came out to go over the surgery and took BJ to the back.
It was about 1pm and Brett called to see how little Ms. BJ was doing. She was just on her way in and they said that they would call when she was done. My phone rang at 1:43pm and my heart sank. It was the vet saying the BJ was out of surgery and she did great. We could go pick her up at 3pm.
Ahhh... relief. Now, I just had to wait until I could go pick her up. I did my filing and when I reached the end, it was 3pm.
I walked into the office and was taken away into another room. The tech went over all of BJ's post op procedures and then went to get BJ. The tech said, "She will be a little groggy". The door opened and BJ ran right in. The tech was surprised how alert BJ was as it wasn't normal to be so alert. Yea!! She is okay.
So, you can hardly see what the surgery for her eye lid. The only give away is the fact that they had to shave the hair below her eye, other than that, she looks just fine.
She is a little groggy but Lucky is the happiest to see her. He has given her her space and curled right up next to her while she took a little nap.
Yea!! I am happy that all worked out in the end. Now it's time to start our Christmas celebration.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Ms. BJ
Our "first" child is going in to have surgery tomorrow. She has a lump on her eye lid. It doesn't look like it bothers her but it is best to have it removed.
I know that she will be okay but it's the idea that she is going under. The lump needs to be removed so that it doesn't pop and have blood in her eye or worse, cancer and us not knowing it.
So, come 7:30am, I will be dropping her off at the vet. I am not sure how Lucky will take this. He and I will cuddle all morning until we hear that we can pick BJ up.
Santa's Visit
Little Ms. Katherine cannot wait for Santa to visit. We have had the house decorated since before Thanksgiving and we just got our tree. It dries out pretty quick here in the desert so we wait as long as we can so that it isn't completely dead Christmas day.
Katherine's number one item on her list to Santa is a pink bike. She has been asking for one for awhile now and I know that she will be very happy when he brings one to her.
We had a grand time decorating the tree. She would hand me the ornaments and would tell me where we should put them on the tree. The tree came out very pretty.
I had a friend over the other night and we got all of our wrapping done. It was awesome. She came over, brought her presents, some wrapping paper and away we wrapped. We used each others paper so that we didn't need to go out and buy new paper.
So, now that the tree is decorated, the presents are wrapped... it's just waiting. Katherine can recognize the presents with her name on them and keeps wanting to open them.
We have family coming in this week. First, Grandma and Grandpa T come in on Wednesday, David, Heidi, Dylan and Ryan arrive on Thursday and my parents will be here on Friday. It is going to be full house on Christmas morning when we open presents.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
December 1st
Wow! It is December already! This is going to be Katherine's first real Christmas that she remembers. She is the one that has been asking to listen to the Christmas music, put up the decorations and got upset because the outside lights were not up. That really lit a fire to get those lights up A.S.A.P.!
I am so excited to share this holiday with her. It has been a favorite holiday in my family and it is awesome that I can pass it down to her.
We have started to make plans for Christmas and my parents are going to be able to make it out. It is a lot to ask of them, especially my dad in his condition. We are going to have a blast, though!
Brett's brother and his family, as well as Brett's parents, will also be joining us. Katherine cannot wait until her cousins, Dylan and Ryan, come to visit her. She keeps asking daily when they will be here. I am really happy that she has the opportunity to see and play with her cousins. I have four first cousins and until just recently, I hadn't seen any of them for about twenty years. And there is one that I had never met in person but met up with on Facebook ~ which is really neat.
We are going to have a pretty full house on Christmas but I cannot wait. We are going to have a ham dinner on Christmas Eve and then my killer Roast beef on Christmas day. Since little Katherine loves Christmas lights so much, we have also started to make plans to take a limo ride around the valley to see the Christmas lights.
Another awesome way to see the lights is by air so I am sure that we will go for a night flight as well. We are also going to take a trip to the snow. Katherine keeps asking about snow so we are going to take a little day trip up to Flagstaff so that she can play in the snow. We will probably get her a little saucer, since she keeps wanting to go sledding.
So... the stockings are hung, the Christmas music is played throughout the day and night, the decorations are out and the outside lights are up. It is Christmas time!
I am so excited to share this holiday with her. It has been a favorite holiday in my family and it is awesome that I can pass it down to her.
We have started to make plans for Christmas and my parents are going to be able to make it out. It is a lot to ask of them, especially my dad in his condition. We are going to have a blast, though!
Brett's brother and his family, as well as Brett's parents, will also be joining us. Katherine cannot wait until her cousins, Dylan and Ryan, come to visit her. She keeps asking daily when they will be here. I am really happy that she has the opportunity to see and play with her cousins. I have four first cousins and until just recently, I hadn't seen any of them for about twenty years. And there is one that I had never met in person but met up with on Facebook ~ which is really neat.
We are going to have a pretty full house on Christmas but I cannot wait. We are going to have a ham dinner on Christmas Eve and then my killer Roast beef on Christmas day. Since little Katherine loves Christmas lights so much, we have also started to make plans to take a limo ride around the valley to see the Christmas lights.
Another awesome way to see the lights is by air so I am sure that we will go for a night flight as well. We are also going to take a trip to the snow. Katherine keeps asking about snow so we are going to take a little day trip up to Flagstaff so that she can play in the snow. We will probably get her a little saucer, since she keeps wanting to go sledding.
So... the stockings are hung, the Christmas music is played throughout the day and night, the decorations are out and the outside lights are up. It is Christmas time!
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