This morning when I went to see Dad for breakfast, he had a much tougher time walking down the long hallways to the elevator. After breakfast, he asked the nurse to check his vital signs and she noted that his heart rate was high and his blood pressure was low. She contacted the doctor and it was recommended that we take him to the Emergency Room. Once at the ER, his blood pressure was better and heart rate not as high, but after doing a chest X-Ray they found some pneumonia. Also, his bruised arm came under much concern and an ultra sound was done to be sure that there were no blood clots. Then an IV was started with antibiotics and he was admitted to the hospital. At least this time we are not in the ICU!
So, I think we will be visiting Dad in the hospital for a few days until his lungs clear, we have an appointment on Monday with the Cardiologist and then we will go from there.
More later...stay out of the water! Or something like that.
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Okay, Thursday evening, home from the hospital
and happy about a Packer win.
Now an update.
The Dr. Holthaus, who was filling in for Dr. McClelland, came in to see Dad late this afternoon and he spent over an hour there talking to Dad and going over some of the information about Dad's health and making sure he answered all Dad's questions.
He explained at Atrial Fib can be handled two ways. Rhythm Control or Rate Control. Rhythm control is the zapperdoodle thing that they tried on Dad last week. Rate Control is using medications to keep the heart rate in control and usually this also means anticoagulant therapy. Right now they are using the drug therapy method to control rate.
Neither treatment is seen as superior according to Dr. Holthaus
Dad's lungs are another story. His right lung has some plural effusion or buildup of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity (yes I used Google). They have seen this on both Xrays here in RL and also on one in Belmond. This might have been caused by asbestos exposure somewhere along Dad's 90 years. His white blood count was some elevated which also may point to infection. The doctor heard wheezing in Dad’s lungs tonight so will treat with more medication & treatments for COPD/emphysema (prednisone & Advair and nebulizer treatments).
The badly bruised arm is another concern. The ER doctor ordered an ultrasound to check for blood clots and luckily there were none. They see two hematomas, one deep and one more superficial. Hematoma is a localized collection of blood outside the blood vessels (yep, thank you Google). But the doctor thinks the anticoagulant therapy might be aggravating the problem so he is stopping the Coumadin until the arm problem is solved. The balance between risk of stroke and benefit of stopping the medication seems to lean towards the arm for now. The risk of stroke being quite low. The bummer is that his INR/Protime was 2.3 which is in the therapeutic range, finally.
So, for now, Dad is getting IV antibiotics (Levofloxacin) for the pneumonia, nebulizer treatments for the lungs, medications for both heart and lungs, Physical Therapy to maintain his leg strength and mobility and TLC from some great nurses. If all goes well, when he is released he will return here to my house in Rice Lake. More later.
Thanks Glenn for coming up here this afternoon to help and for giving me a chance to get Ev home for some rest.
Dad got a bolus (a large dose of a substance) of some really great medicine tonight when Heather and Kyle and Jens Henry Valdemar stopped by to see Dad. Dad really gets a kick out of Jens and it seems pretty mutual. Jens was playing peek a boo through the bed handles and generally entertained Dad. Sometimes the best medicine isn't medicine. If Dad stays in the hospital over the weekend, or if he comes home to my house, anyone who wants to visit surely can come. I will let you know tomorrow what it looks like for where Dad will be.
In the meantime, the hospital has a cheer card site that you can send an electronic card if you want to.
Valdemar Johansen Room 202
The link is below:
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