Ruling out heart problems. . .(sigh)

Well, Dad's heart rate decided to jump up to 115 (which, when you're usually 45 beats per minute, that's a pretty significant increase).  He was complaining of his chest hurting when he coughed, so on came the onslaught of labs and EKGs to rule out a heart attack.

EKG was normal, as were the first set of labs that would show a cardiac enzyme that only shows up when there's been heart damage.  We think it's just the blood clots in his lungs hurting when he coughs, but with the increased heart rate, they wanted to be sure.

Still no orders to move out of ICU, but those may come in the morning.  For now, he's resting comfortably in his bed. 

I always miss the visitors, it seems.  I went off to FedEx his MRI scan from today to the Mayo Clinic, and then on to see the little kids and hang out there while Tracy went to the hospital.  Sorry I missed you, Bill!

Tracy said that he's ever-so-slightly more alert -- the steroids at that dose took a few days last time (at St. Mary's in Rochester) to kick in.  Hopefully it doesn't take that long this time, and hope they work!

Back to the highest dose of steroids - 24mg

Early results from the MRI are in - no change from late July. I've got the CD in my hand and going to run it over to FedEx to overnight it up to the courier service in Rochester. That way, our neurologist at Mayo Clinic can review it hopefully as early as tomorrow afternoon.

Just learned that they upped the steroid dose to 24mg/day - the highest dose you can get. Apparently the doctors are with us in thinking that drastic measures need to be taken to get him back responding to us and hopefully coming back around.

He's eating a bit today, and going to stick to soft foods for the time being.

Monday morning update; MRI Today

Some days it just feels like a Monday, doesn't it?

Dad was evaluated this morning by the "normal" crew of his doctors (not always on the weekend staff).  They're not happy with how he's doing, and don't feel that his being tired from being up in the chair is all that is contributing to his tiredness.  They're worried about how Dad is doing, so they are changing a few things:

• On Friday when Dad was doing better, they had taken him off of the IV Steroids and gone back to the pills.  They are restarting the IV steroids today to get the maximum benefit out of the steroids.  There's a small chance that going from IV back to pills on Friday was part of the decline we saw over the weekend.
• They are asking anyone in the room to help push fluids - Dad needs to drink more.  Iced tea, Diet Coke, water, shakes. . .Need to increase his fluid intake.
• He's having an MRI done today (as previously discussed), but now they are looking to see if there is further increased swelling causing significantly more confusion and weakness.  We will be overnighting the MRI CD up to our doctor at the Mayo Clinic, and hopefully get a report from them on Tuesday or Wednesday.
• His labs drawn this morning look "okay" - but not great.  Not sure of the details on that statement, but will find out more this afternoon.
• They are putting a pressurized stocking (a TED hose) on Dad's left leg and keep it elevated for the swelling.  They think this is due to the large clot in his leg impeding the blood flow, sitting up in the chair for the first time in a while, and inactivity.  

The oncologist is definitely worried about him.  He has lost so much muscle mass, and was concerned about his cognitive state.  We all are.  We're not sure when the move out of ICU is yet, but chances are that when he goes down for his MRI, they will move him to the new room when he comes back up.  I'll post an update when we get the results of the MRI.

End of Day Report: Not as good, still in ICU

Just returning from visiting Dad.  Tracy was up there most of the afternoon, and Mom and I went up for the evening.  Dad's just not looking very good.  He's very, very sleepy.  He's not always following commands that have to do with his left side.  His left leg is VERY swollen.  Blood pressure is down a bit; pulse is very high (for him) at 75; and he's just not wanting to eat.   He's also got me concerned on his output of fluids as well as that's significantly changed since I saw him Friday.

The plan is still to get him out to the floor tomorrow, but not sure what's going on.  Lots of little things are adding up to not so good.  He's got us concerned again.  He was up in the chair for six hours today, which would make him very sleepy.  But a few other things going on wouldn't be impacted by being tired.

Keep thinking positively.

Another stable night, so out of ICU today

We had a good laugh yesterday (you seek out those moments in times like this).  As I was reaching for an ice pack, nearly a half-dozen items started falling from their precarious perch on other frozen goods in the packed freezer.  I couldn't stand it anymore.  I cleaned out the freezer.  I found something that has made us laugh again yet this morning:  some frozen red and green peppers that were dated 10/12/99.  That's right.  They were frozen BEFORE Mom and Dad even moved into this house.  The peppers were included in the move.  Mom is defending herself in saying that she probably just re-used the bag.  Looking at the peppers closely, I can guarantee that they were every day of 10 years old.  

Last night, both Mom and Tracy said Dad didn't look nearly as good as he did the day before.  Hoping it's just because he was so worn out from the move to the chair and sitting up.   He was pretty confused, exceptionally tired/worn out, and just overall not doing as well.

His nurse this morning said that he had another very stable night with pretty good sleep, so they are talking about moving him out of ICU and onto the floor.  We definitely will miss the very attentive nurses and staff in ICU (and the beautifully remodeled room with a couch and room for us all).  Hoping that he remains stable enough to get the MRI that we want to get done this week and send back up to the Mayo Clinic for evaluation.

We're going to take a bit of a break this afternoon, and instead of enjoying this gorgeous weather, we're sneaking inside a movie theatre to go see "UP!" - the Pixar movie.  I've seen it, and I can't wait to take a few kids to see it as well.  Mom is going also. . .Hopefully both Emily and I can sit that long without needing to get up and walk around.  A good test for us both.

Up to the chair

Dad made it up to the chair (with a LOT of help).  He sat there for quite a while, and reclined even.  But now he's exhausted, and pretty confused.  Not surprising, since that's pretty much more activity he's had in a week.  

They started breathing treatments every six hours for him - more as a preventative measure against pneumonia and bronchitis than anything.  We were happy to hear those were initiated.  We don't need him to get an infection after all of this.

Mom is heading up now to have dinner with him, so if there is any additional news, I'll update once she returns with the report.

Small, yet encouraging, steps

Dad had a good night of sleep again, which really helps him tackle the day better.  According to his nurse, he did not have ANY apnea during the night at all.   That's a big relief to us all.  Hopefully that's gone for good.

In a surprising twist of events, the doctors now feel that the situation with the blood clots has stabilized somewhat without treatment, so they are going to try and get him up out of bed and into the chair today.  Not sure how that is going to go, but it's an encouraging sign.

He will be in ICU for a few more days, but Dad is definitely going in the right direction.

I'm not likely to make it up there today (and Dad does NOT know about the accident, so please don't tell him - he has enough going on to worry about that), as I'm enjoying my mattress of ice bags on my back.  At least it's a beautiful day in Omaha with a cool breeze.  A nice, relaxing day.

Pretty good day, although had some bad luck on Dodge Street

(for those that live in Omaha, I crossed Dodge street, on foot, four times today from the shoulder to the median.  I don't recommend it.)

I had big plans to write up a summary of the day, but the trip home from the hospital today disrupted those plans with an eight-car pile up on Dodge Street.  Long story short, Grandma and I got hit from behind in the VW Beetle (the car and Grandma remain relatively unscathed, but the muscular structure in my back is another story).  We'll be okay, I'm just going to have a bit more tame of a Friday night and Saturday than I had planned.

Dad had a good day.  He was joking, somewhat sharp-tongued (in a good, sarcastic way), and ravenous in hunger.  You know how a puppy will continue to eat a bowl of food even beyond when they're full?  That was Dad today.

They're going to keep him in ICU for at least a few more days, and the docs all like his progress.  We found out today that the neurologist following him at the hospital (new to Dad's team this week) was a resident under our neurologist at the Mayo Clinic.  Nice connection.

Anyway, there were anecdotes, visitors, a story from Father Dan about how Dad has met so many of the parishioners at the church because he'd often wander beyond the main sanctuary and needed someone to guide him back for the service, and even the insurance agents when I was filing a claim today wanted to know how he was doing.

He's still pretty confused, but he's heading in the right direction.  Me on the other hand?  Well, I may have just bought myself the weekend off despite not asking for it.  As my friends Elaine and Jamie might say, "Karma, let's stop the pay-in and let's start seeing the pay-out."

Have a good weekend, and I'll update when I can.

Heading in the right direction this morning

A pretty uneventful night, and I think Dad got some really good sleep. He was still having periods of apnea, where his oxygen saturation levels would drop below the level they want them, so he was placed on oxygen for the night while he slept.

The assessment at 4AM found him pretty confused (he thought he was at a car dealership, and even asked the nurse what dealership she worked for), but stable. He sneezed twice during the night, which induced huge panic in me in the room (since he is supposed to stay really still), but everything was okay.

This morning he's quite a bit more alert, sounds stronger, and all of his labs are normal. One of his doctors came in already, and was pretty pleased with where things were today when compared to yesterday. They're even going to allow him to take a step up from chicken broth and have a bowl of oatmeal this morning, along with some apple juice. It's been ordered, and cannot get here fast enough for Dad.

Dad's primary care physician indicated that they were going to consult with the Mayo Clinic crew to see if there's any alternative treatment they would give for blood clots, but for now it's just time. It may take months for the body to absorb the clots in the lungs, and the filter put into his vein yesterday morning should catch the big one in his leg. He was reassuring - so this morning is starting off much better than yesterday already.

Tracy put up with the ice machine and the snoring family members of another patient, while I tried to get a few hours in Dad's room. I found myself staring at the monitor for about an hour at a time, just making sure that the apnea (period of not breathing) didn't last more than 20 seconds when the alarm should go off. There were a few times where I actually got up to walk out to find the nurse when he took a deep breath. Ugh. Nearly three total hours of sleep for us both, which is more than we expected. We did have a good laugh this morning about my documented super-hearing (fact - I'll tell you the story someday of my processing to be a CIA employee. They're thorough) as Tracy could hear someone in the hallway sitting down in a chair (thinking it was the doctor we were waiting for). I didn't hear it, but then again, the hallway was to my right and my super hearing ear is on the left. We are also punchy this morning from a short night, so that made it even funnier.

Super foggy in Omaha, so a good day for Mom and Grandma to sleep in a bit. Hoping today is a bit calmer than yesterday.

Lots of visitors, things are winding down for the night

Thanks to all of the family and friends that stopped up today and tonight. This is a major piece of the support system that was missing in Minnesota earlier this year. It really, really does help to have that positive energy and familiar faces around. Thank you.

It really spiked the good vibes in the large family room here in the ICU. Much more comfortable chairs, big couches that fold out into beds, and lots of them to allow everyone to sit. Dinner was even sent up (Thanks, Wheelers!) to the hospital, and then Jenson's brought pizza over to the Huff's to hang with me and the kids (so Rich could come up and see Dad -- which really made Dad light up. He was really happy to see him). I got video of the kids saying "hi" to Grandpa, which also made him smile tonight when I got back down here. Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference.

I just got Mom and Grandma down to the door, and got the car for them so they could go home and get some rest in their own beds. Both of them are just exhausted. Definitely a draining day, and yet not sure where it all went. Very happy to have Dad up here in ICU under a watchful eye. Tracy and I are staying tonight, and Mom is on speed dial if anything changes at all.

With the blood clots in his lungs, pulmonary artery, and the leg, they're trying to keep him as still as possible, off of food (so he doesn't cough or even if the food makes him feel nauseated - which could dislodge the clot in his leg), not sitting up, or anything. It's going to be a long several days to allow everything to just kind of take care of itself and not disturb the clots as they dissipate.

Right now, nothing has changed. We'll be thrilled if that stays that way for a while. Anxious to talk with the doctors early tomorrow morning.

Oh, and I packed my own diet coke in for Tracy and I in the morning. This hospital is Diet Pepsi only, which you know just doesn't fly. Everything is better with a cold Diet Coke.

Thanks again to all of you for the notes, thoughts and prayers. We don't want to get greedy, but please keep them coming. More tomorrow. I'm going to go grab some bedding and lay claim to one of the couches in the family room. There is a couch in Dad's room as well, so both Tracy and I have beds tonight. Not sure how much sleep we'll get, but at least we'll be able to put our feet up.

Good night for now.

Dad just can't catch a break

Well, Dad is settled in to his ICU bed. The have a PICC line in (to allow them to push medications, blood products, etc.), and have him stabilized. We were talking with the critical care doctor as he was reviewing the raw scans, and he came out to tell us that Dad's lung (both upper and lower lobe) was full of blood clots, in addition to a small one in his pulmonary artery. We also just got confirmation that he has a large clot in his left leg that's loose, but this one will be "caught" by the filters that they just put in yesterday if it stays "large." If it breaks off a bit at a time, the filters likely won't catch it. Not a good situation, so they want to keep him as still as possible so as to not disturb the clot at all.

This is about the worst possible news. Because he has a very recent history of a head bleed (and the CT confirmed just a small area of oozing still), he can NOT get treatment for blood clots. They treat it with heparin therapy, which is a blood thinner, and that's absolutely not going to happen with his brain in the state it's in.

For now, he's stable. We hope to keep him that way. Not treating him for blood clots is a really difficult thing to hear, but treating him is too risky. We now take things hour by hour.

CT Scan done, made the move to ICU

When they rolled down to CT scan, Dad was having to be reminded to breathe. Apnea was increasing, and he was much weaker in his responses.

Not sure yet of the CT results, but he has a bed in ICU and they just brought him up. We feel MUCH better about having him under more monitoring. Although I guess he's sitting up in the room talking to the nurse right now. He continues to surprise us.

More when we know results from the CT.

Waiting to be stable for more tests

Quite a hotbed of activity here this morning. Dad was doing fairly well this morning, even up to the chair with PT, big breakfast, etc. Well, right after the doctors left the room (as it always happens), he had a seizure that lasted about three minutes.

Right after, they were able to get him back into the bed, and he had very low blood pressure, and experiencing periods of apnea (not breathing) for 15-20 seconds at a time.

They're trying to get his blood pressure and breathing stabilized enough to go down for a CT of the head and the chest. Thought we were getting there in the past 45 minutes, but in the past ten minutes things have gone back down. Blood pressure has dropped again, and the apnea is back, and starting to see his temperature go up.

We're trying to get some better monitoring equipment, and potentially even a move to the ICU.

A positive sign - his left arm seems to be a bit stronger and used more today. More as we know.

Seizure during PT; experiencing apnea

We just got a call from Methodist, so I'm heading down immediately.  Dad had a major seizure during PT this morning, and he's experiencing periods of apnea (not breathing) for 15-20 seconds at a time.

That's all I know.  Heading down and more later.

Don't mess with the Dillon sisters OR our faith in the Mayo Clinic

All I can say is that the one-two punch of Tracy and me being a patient advocate for Dad has to sting a bit. I'm still laughing a bit after finding out from Tracy this morning that she "warned" the night nurse that I was coming straight from the airport, and if she thought Tracy was thorough and asking questions, just wait for me to show up.

So the last update was around 2AM last night, thinking that Dad was fully asleep and that I was nearing my pacific time zone normal bedtime. I closed down the computer, nestled into the cot, and not ten minutes later, Dad was up.

For the night.

I actually really enjoyed the night. It was like a slumber party, where one person says, "Okay, seriously, we need to get some sleep here or neither of us is going to function in the morning." Only to go about three minutes before the next topic or question would come up from Dad. We talked about how wants to go back and visit Vietnam (now that he has a passport, he has wanderlust!), about hotel taxes (this is when he was a bit confused thinking we were still in Minnesota, and then had a bit of a laugh of how it's easy to get confused as all the hospitals start running together), about my good friend Eric who had his car accident last November (Dad was wondering how he was doing in his recovery, as they've bonded on their rehab and life-altering experiences a bit). There were also topics that really didn't make a lot of sense -- he kept asking about where the group of photographers was staying. When asking him for more information, he kept thinking that they had come in the "front door" with me when I arrived. I was actually pretty pleased with how well he sounded and mostly coherent.

So they came and got him at 6AM to take him to pre-op to prep him for having the blood clot filters put into his veins. I saw a few of the doctors, but most stayed away as they figured out Dad was in pre-op, and not in the room. I left around 7:30AM to head back out west to shower, say a quick hello to a few of the kids as Dillon went off to school, through the monsoon rains to Elkhorn, made breakfast for Mom, and tried to fall asleep right around 10:30.

10:45AM: Our neurologist from Mayo Clinic showed up on my caller ID. I immediately picked up. I chatted about my night with Dad a bit, some first impressions based on my expectations (all while trying to get my own bearings after JUST having fallen asleep). He then told me that he did get the scans we'd sent, and he'd had a chance to look at them.

I swear, time pretty much stands still between the "I've looked at the scans" sentence and the next which indicates what he saw. This doctor is the master at not changing his tone or approach, no matter what the news. So this is what he indicated (don't read if squeamish, as I'm going to put it all out there :)):

• The MRI taken was not a complete MRI, but rather a "quick" shot, which didn't have the complete series normally taken, and it appeared Dad was moving a bit in a few of the frames. So, not a high quality scan for him to look at.
• The scan remains ugly, and the reports are even uglier. Out of Omaha, anyway.
• He feels that the trauma of Dad hitting his head, starting the cranial bleed, the large blood clot residing in the empty cavity where Dad had his temporal lobectomy was what was causing this latest downturn. The body will rev up to fight against and get rid of the extra blood, break down the clot, and filter it out. Causing some swelling in the process as the extra cells go in and try to break it down.
• While a bit blurry, he feels in his best estimation, that the necrosis/mass is pretty much the same as a month ago, possibly even just a tiny bit smaller than the previous scan. That would be amazing news if that were the case, meaning that the necrosis possibly has slowed down enough for the brain to start recovery.
• He feels that surgery isn't something that should be considered to clear out the clot and the excess blood, as the body will do that naturally anyway over several weeks, and why put Dad through more trauma that could introduce more problems.
• Next steps: As long as Dad isn't getting worse (which he seems to have stabilized somewhat), we're going to bypass the appointment in Rochester next week, and just send up a new MRI (complete series, and one where Dad remains still).

The situation still remains pretty ugly in Omaha, however. Dad's still very weak on his left side (caused by the pressure on the brain in just the right parts). He had a lot of visitors today, with all four siblings in the past 24hrs: Brother Mike and his wife Jodi yesterday; Sister Gloria and brother-in-law Don were in (and will be here tomorrow as well), Sister Cathy and her husband Doug, and brother Larry. The priest from the church was also in, along with me, Tracy, Mom and Grandma.

Physical Therapy started today (FINALLY!), so Dad was very tired at the end of the day. Hoping his tech sitting in the room tonight will give him a good shave and possibly even a haircut (she's a former beautician). And hopefully it's restful sleep.

I'm off to do that myself. Been a long day and a half - seems a lot longer than just yesterday afternoon that I left Portland. More tomorrow.

An update as I sip on some chicken broth

Dinner tonight at Methodist Hospital for me consists of some chicken broth (double batch) and some saltines. I really should have let Scott get me lunch at New Season's like he offered. Oh well. Fasting is good for you.

So upon landing in Omaha, Rich brought me straight to the hospital. I'm staying up here tonight, as I really want to talk to the doctors in the morning. I've gone "to work" from the moment I walked in. Got Dad some Kendall boots (since he's not getting out of bed, he's at high risk for blood clots - these are pressurized boots that simulate circulation -- kinda), got caught up with his nurse, and got her ink flowing in the chart about what I wanted to talk to the doctors about.

Apparently, if you can believe this (which I can't), some of the doctors have been writing in the chart "end of life care" - which is making sure Dad is comfortable. This was called to Mom's attention by our oncologist who wondered what that meant. Well, NO ONE talked to anyone in the family about this, and that's a big no-no. We are NOT giving up yet, and want to fight this aggressively and watch out for his well-being. That means Physical Therapy. That means watching for blood clots (he's getting little filters put in tomorrow to stop any from breaking off and going to his heart or lungs).

Those of you who know me have an idea of how fast I turned from being upset to just being plain mad. Within the first hour of my arrival, I felt good about the progress made. I even got the tech to set up my cot (which was very nice, but not quite nice enough to recover from the fact that he had the fluorescent light on so he could read. . .pretty much like the exam lights right in Dad's eyes as he was trying to sleep!). To prevent Dad from trying to get out of bed on his own, they have a tech that sits in here overnight when no one is around. He's now in the hallway where there is enough light for him to read.

Dad briefly woke up when I got here. We had a pretty short, but good, conversation. I asked him if he was okay with us being roommates tonight, and he got a smile on his face (not a big one, more of a smirk), and said, "Sure!" He thinks he's in Minnesota, but he's oriented to know that he's in the hospital, and he knew who I was.

Tomorrow morning is going to come awfully early, so I'm going to wrap up my chicken broth and crackers, and try to get a few hours of sleep. More tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for their notes, their prayers, and their kind messages.

Please keep Dad in your prayers

I'm heading to Omaha in a few hours after getting word from the doctors that I should get there. We could use all the prayers and thoughts you have right now.

More details after I get to Omaha.

Monday night update

(picture on the left is from a few weeks ago)

So much, yet so little, has happened to let us know what is going on. Two CT scans and one MRI later, and we're still left wondering what's happening beyond the bleed caused from the fall. Thankfully we were able to figure out a way to get the scans up to the doctors at the Mayo Clinic (the neurologist called me over his lunch hour today to find out what was going on) -- overnight express to a courier service, and then have the courier service walk the scans up to the front desk of our neurologist. The doctor should have the scans tomorrow afternoon and hopefully we'll have a plan of action by end of day tomorrow.

According to Tracy and Mom, Dad's mouth on the left side isn't drooping as severely, but he's quite a bit more confused and slurring his speech today than yesterday. When I talked to him, it was pretty difficult to understand more than just a few words at a time. He sounds quite a bit weaker today than he did yesterday even (and yesterday he didn't exactly sound strong). Dad's left side is very weak, to the point of holding a cup of fruit in the left hand so he can use a fork in his right hand isn't working well. He's pretty much bed-ridden right now, requiring three people to help him stand and "walk" to the chair.

Mom did give him basically a day at the salon, though -- she cut his hair a bit, trimmed his unruly eyebrows, and gave him a shave. She said it made HER feel better if nothing else. The bleed in his brain seems to have been halted as well (which is a very good thing!) based on the latest CT scan.

Dad's oncologist returns to the office tomorrow, so he likely will be up early in the morning to conduct rounds and see Dad. The Mayo's neurologist is going to call him as well after that and they can compare notes as to what the next steps are. We're inquiring as to whether or not he needs the little green filters to be put in to avoid a blood clot moving from his legs to his heart or lungs (he was taken off of the blood thinners on Saturday in anticipation of emergency surgery that didn't materialize), as well as cranking up the steroids to the highest level to try and get him a little strength to fight whatever it is that's bringing him down.

While his time on the phone is pretty limited right now, I'm sure that a note of encouragement or a card to the house (where Mom is now returning each night after we got a "sitter" in the room to make sure Dad stayed in bed) would go over well. I'll check his email later tonight and pass along any messages already sent.

Keep thinking positively.

Sunday Update

Not exactly a restful night for anyone. After taking his normal medication at night that allows him to sleep, apparently Dad seemed a bit too much out of it around 3:00, so they scheduled an immediate CT scan to determine if the bleed was getting worse in his head. Thankfully, not much had changed at all, so they let him go back to sleep once back in his room.

The risk of going in for surgery appears to have passed for now, and Dad is inhaling food like it's going out of style (likely mostly caused by the increased steroid dose that he's receiving via IV). It's now the "hurry up and wait" game of waiting for the doctors to consult with each other and figure out what's next.

An attempt for a shower was thwarted this morning with extremely fatigued Dad with little to no strength to help the nurses. I think they're going to try again this afternoon. At this point, we really don't know what is next. Anxious for Dad's normal physicians and medical staff to get updated and stop by tomorrow morning. For now, things appear to have stabilized a bit with the bleeding in his brain, and the swelling continues to be worked on aggressively by the steroids.

Urgent admission to the hospital this morning

Dad was half-joking this afternoon when I was talking to him from his hospital bed at Methodist that he needed to do something to spice up the blog posts a bit. I told him this wasn't necessary to go this far.

Let me take you back a few days.

Dad has been increasingly unsteady on his feet, often bumping into walls as he starts to lose his balance. His strength is not very good right now, so the ability to correct when he starts to lean to the left isn't there, so the wall or a door jam stops his fall. He has hit his noggin a few times pretty hard (remember, he has a field cut in his vision out of the left eye, so he really can't "see" the door jam or the wall to try and catch himself), and he's all beaten up on the left side with bruises and small cuts from falling.

I guess things were pretty bad yesterday, with walking getting more and more unsteady. They got some labs (which showed very low anti-seizure medication levels, and he did have a seizure on the way into the hospital this morning, but I get ahead of myself). Tracy noticed that his left side was drooping a bit, and the nurse practitioner did an evaluation on him for a possible stroke. The fact that he could lift both of his eyebrows and passed "most" of the tests, they didn't do further testing.

Fast forward to last night at midnight, Dad fell in the hallway. Not having any leg strength to speak of at all, Mom called Rich to come over and help get Dad up and back to bed. Stern warnings to Dad to not try and get up on his own, as even having a walker by his bed doesn't help as his arm strength really isn't much. Well, Dad had to get up to use the bathroom around 4:30 or 5, and this time he fell in the bathroom, hit the counter above his eye, and it required a 911-call to have the professionals help get him up and back to bed.

When I called early this morning, they were in the car on the way to the hospital. Dad's whole left side was pretty much dragging and required two people to get him to the car. The doctors had called ahead and he went straight to admissions and his room. They ordered a CT scan to rule out a bleed in the brain caused by the falls/hitting his head, and to give him a high dose of IV steroids to pump up his strength a bit.

Well, sure enough, there's bleeding in the brain, and they felt it was from the primary hit a few nights ago, and piled on by the falls last night. At first they were going to do surgery right away, but now they want to wait and just see. He's been on blood thinners, so they're giving him a few units of plasma/platelets and some vitamin K to thicken up the blood a little, hoping this will clot on its own. He had lunch, but that's it until probably tomorrow sometime so that if things worsen they can take him into surgery with the smallest risk possible. He is slurring his speech some, and apparently his left side is pretty impacted. Hopefully that is reversed with the steroids and the reduction of the size of the blood clot in the cavity where he had the necrosis removed in the surgery in May.

He did have an MRI as well to determine the level of swelling from the necrosis, but the only report we've received is that it showed that there was not an immediate need for surgery, and that they would monitor closely over the night and into the morning.

Mom is staying the night up there tonight to keep a close eye (no beds on the neuro or ICU that Dad could move to), so hopefully there's some sleep for them both after a rough couple of days.

Dad is keeping his sense of humor somewhat - he told me today that when he gets out of the hospital, he's going to start wearing a helmet around the house. Probably not a bad idea considering the past few days.

I'll keep the blog up to date as we know more. I'm on stand-by to head home any day this week, but for now keeping my ticket to fly home on Saturday. For now, he's "stable" per the medical staff. An interesting few days ahead await.

Is time flying for anyone else?

On Saturday I told myself that I would do an update "tomorrow." It's now nearly a week later. Not sure where the time went, but here we go:

I did talk with the neurologist at Mayo Clinic. He still thinks that the MRI is reflecting necrosis (treatment effect from the radiation). We will be heading up in a few weeks to see the neurologist and have another MRI taken, so we will see at that point how this is progressing. Still nothing new to treat (no way to really treat this necrosis outside of giving it time). No new chemo, no new medications, etc.

Dad's doing pretty well, but still tired and struggling with having the energy/strength to do what he'd really like to do. He's been going to physical therapy three times a week to build back up the muscle mass that has been zapped by the steroids. He's also been hanging out a bit more over with the grandkids, watching them all ride bikes in the driveway while he holds baby Kaitlyn. Who, of COURSE, already loves her Grandpa Dillon.

More after visit to Mayo Clinic - if not before.

No word yet, but I did talk to the Mayo Clinic today

Well, I've learned something: it's faster to drive an MRI CD and personally hand it to the secretary in the Neurology Department than it is to express ship it. When I talked with the front desk today of Dad's neurologist, she indicated that the scan had JUST been uploaded to the system on Friday afternoon. Not Friday the 24th. Friday the 31st. At least we know what the delay has been.

I expect to be in the middle of a meeting this week when the neurologist calls back (which is fine, I just hope folks around me don't get upset when my ringer is on full-blast all week so that I don't miss it). Hopefully some news soon on next steps.

In the meantime, Dad's hanging in. He's not feeling the best (nausea, fatigue, weakness), but he's trying to be a trooper. He even tried to change a light fixture the other day. Let's just say he's not quite ready to resume THOSE duties, or tasks that require a ladder. I'm sure the scrapes and bruise from the fall will heal quickly. :)

I'd love to give you a personal report from Dad, but I honestly haven't talked to him in several days. He's spending the waking hours at rehab, and that is exhausting him, so when he's home, a lot of times he's resting. Calls are in to the various medical professionals around town to ask about new dosages / removing some of the drugs he's on to see if that may help with the nausea/fatigue, but it may just be something he needs to fight through as the necrosis works its way through his system.

I'm sure she will never ask, but if there's ever a time that someone would want to come over and hang in the house so Mom can escape for a few hours, call her. She's going to hurt me for even putting this in here, but I know day-in and day-out of all of this can take a toll. So give her a call if you have an interest in stopping by and either hanging out with Dad, or bring over a good book to read for a few hours.

Other than that, the Nebraska-like weather has finally decided to leave Oregon. We set an all-time record for consecutive 90+ degree days. It was even HUMID! Finally today it was back to nearly normal, with the forecast getting us right back where we should be for the next few weeks.

Hope all is well with everyone!