My Daddy

Last Thursday, June3, Dad was picking up broken limbs (one big one in particular) in the yard and putting them on the Rhino (4-wheeler/golf cart type vehicle). When the Rhino started to roll without him in it, Dad ran over to it and turned the wheel so that it ran into a tree instead of rolling into the lake. In the process, the door flew open and tripped him up sending him tumbling down the driveway. It knocked his glasses off but thankfully he had his cell. He thought he called mom, but he actually called a family friend who didn't answer so he called me and I called mom. Neither mom nor the neighor could get him up so Mom called an ambulance. X-ray showed he had broken his other hip (left this time). He had hip replacement surgery on Friday. Everything seemed to be going well until Saturday/ Sunday when he began having "stomach issues" if you know what I mean. Cramping and diarhea. Tuesday he was diagnosed with C diff. Apparently, the post surgery antibiotic he was taking killed all the good bacteria in his intestines which allowed the bad bacteria to grow causing C Diff. C Diff is becoming the most common bacteria found in hospitals. We don't know if the C Diff was already in his system but being conrolled by the good bacteria or if he was just exposed. No way to really tell. Any of us could have it in our system but it won't rear its very ugly head until we're on an antibiotic that kills the good bacteria. So on Wednesday, his heart rate went way up and his blood pressure went way down and they transferred him to the SICU. This was due to the C Diff making him dehydrated and he had not been able to keep anything he ate down either. They tried to regulate it with meds, but his heart just wouldn't get back into a good rhythm. He was asking the same questions over and over and wanted to get up when we had told him he couldn't. It scared me to see him like that, but they said it was due to the very low blood pressure. The next step was to sedate him and shock his heart. Yes, with the paddles. The dr. said that it is much less dramatic in real life than when they do it on tv, but with sedation it wouldn't hurt during, but it would after. The shock worked and his heart got into a good rhythm, but the confusion that I had seen in him continued when he woke up. That night he kept wanting to get up or take off his blood pressure cuff and so on... I spent the night that night... well, let's put it this way, Mom left at 2 am and was back at the hospital the next morning. He was very restless. Thursday he continued having bad cramps, but he was able to tolerate 2 chocolate milkshakes so we had hope he was on the up swing. But Thursday night he had a rough night with several uses of the ole bed pan and still suffering from what we found out can be called "sundowners". It is basically confusion and talking out of your head and not being very compliant. Friday morning brought extreme abdominal pain and swelling. He looks pregnant and it is hard as a rock. I got very frustrated b/c we are in the ICU and it took 35 minutes for the house dr. to get to us. My dad was yelling from the pain and I got in the hallway and threatened to call the emergency response team. Finally the dr. got there and got him some iv pain med. He said he would have a GI dr who has done a lot of studies on C Diff to come by. He (well, one of his associates) did come by this afternoon. The GI dr. ordered a CAT scan to see what is going on in his colon. They put in a NG tube down his nose and put dye down it for the CAT scan. It will also slowly let out some of the air in his belly. Also, if it comes down to it, they can feed him thru it. He had to be given ativan in order to get this done, but that is good b/c it made him sleep after they were done. They also put in a PICC line so that they don't have to poke him every 12 hours when they take blood. Speaking of blood, they tested his blood to see if the infection is in his blood and so far, it is not. They also tested for a UTI and so far no. TT has been an issue too.
The past 2 nights they have let one of us spend the night in the room in order to keep him in the bed, but tonight I will be on an air mattress in the waiting room. I think they have got his pain managed better, so I think he will sleep better tonight. I hope and pray he does. It is almost time to go back in to see him. I think that is about it. Thank you so much for all the prayers and help with the kids. Keep up the prayers!