Dad is still in Audubon (room 5203)

Dad is still in the hospital…probably a few more days at least. They’re working to clear up his lungs (Acute COPD), reducing the steroids each day though. The steroids have his blood sugar though the roof…meds to help one problem creates another! His Coumadin level is all out of whack (but they don't know why) so they’re treating that with vitamin K…he has to be very careful not to fall as his blood would be very difficult to clot if he got a cut. The only “walking” he does is from the bed to the chair and then only to the bathroom. He convinced the doctor last night to let him get up to at least go to the “potty”…I mean come on…who can use a potty chair with just a curtain, and a room mate! The nurses were funny last night when they came in and hooked up his extra, extra, long oxygen hose that reached from the window side bed to the bathroom…she told him she didn’t blame him…that’s where you do your best “thinking” and you can’t do that in the middle of the room! :-) They have all been very nice at Audubon! OK...sorry for a little “TMI”! :-) His heart is only working at 25%...the way the doctor explained it was that the heart fills up with blood then pumps 50% of the blood back off, leaving some behind he said to “prime the pump” so to speak. Dads is only pumping off 25% which leaves the extra 25% still there which is congestive heart failure. At least I think that’s what the doctor meant. ADDED INFO FROM NURSE MOM/FAYE! :-) FYI...Atrial fibrillation causes the heart not to empty the other 25%...fibrillating means a "quivering" not a real pumping action. The blood pools there and will form a clot if no blood thinner is given. Now you know as much as I do. His oxygen level again today when they took him off of oxygen for 15 minutes went down to 78…that’s really low…and he’s on 5 liters of O2 which is high…they want to try to get him down to 2 or 3 liters to go home. At least NOW he is eligible for home oxygen! It has to be under 89 within 24 hours of going home to have medicare provide it…oh our lovely health care system! (normal is 90 or over…most healthy people are at 98) So they will check it each day without O2 to see what the level is.

Lets see, I thinks that’s it…his lungs and his breathing, his heart, his blood, his blood sugar, and his needing privacy to go potty… :-) And his Twix ice cream bar I’ve gotten him each night after his dinner. I won’t be back up there tonight so I guess he won’t get one. :-) Mom and I have had most of our meals at Audubon...the food has been suprisingly very good! Today for lunch we had this great fresh made while you wait salad, with grilled chicken, mushrooms, onions, strawberries, pineapples, oranges, nuts and cheese! Yummy!

Moms appt. with the eye surgeon today went well, she’s healing good…he told her he put 7 stitches in (he had originally told her only 4) I asked if she could drive and he said oh sure, her other eye is 20/20! Well I said what if something comes up on the right side! He said “legally” she can drive, just be careful! She insisted she was driving home tonight…she just has to go home before dark. :-)

She is home now and did fine driving she said. :-) Thank you for your continued prayers for both of their's "speedy recovery".

Julie