Dealing with my family: May 2009 Archives

It's been quite a weekend for the family. Dad was rushed to the hospital Thursday; when he got there they said he was in immediate danger of a heart attack. A stent the next morning cleared up that problem, but as I look back on the past few days, I see it as a momentary calm in a stormy weekend. Before the weekend is over my sister Mary will be in the Emergency Room herself.

Later Friday afternoon dad suffered a setback that turned into quite a panic. I think it was more serious than the doctor says, his vitals dropped sending every nurse and doctor on the floor into his room, shuffling my mom and sister Kathleen out into the hallway. Whatever color of Code Blue or Red included summoning the Chaplain and I got a teary phone call from Kathleen when they didn't know just how serious this incident was. It was up to me to contact the siblings.

In this day and age how can you reach out to 3 people and not get any response?

Dad's been complaining of chest pains, so Kathleen called 911 last night. He told me of discomfort while we were on the Hearst Castle trip last week, but he told me at 4 o'clock of pain he'd had that morning. And he was combining his laments with his hernia discomforts; he'd been fitted with a truss just before we departed, so I ignored him. At Stanford Medical Center they say he's in grave danger of a heart attack, that one of his arteries is almost completely blocked. They're doing an angiogram this afternoon. He'll probably be getting a stent.

Makes me glad that we did the Living Will back in February. Although he's conscious and still making his own decisions, the doctors are complaining about his dementia. It may be the stress. They're having difficulty communicating, "tell me why you're here today?".

Update: he's proudly wearing a new stent! One of his arteries was completely blocked, now it's flowing like the Merrimac River he claims he wants to see again.