Well, we got there Friday afternoon. They had done an echo cardiogram on Friday morning. The regular doctor didn't have any word on it yet because the cardiologist had not yet read it. Saturday he told us that the cardiologist would read it Monday morning but he, the regular doctor, did not think that he had pneumonia but that he had/has congestive heart failure. So they treated with antobiotics and lasix. Sunday they realized that they were giving him too much lasix and his kidney function was not right so they were trying to re-hydrate. The cardiologist did not show up on Monday. We tracked him down and called his office. His office said there was no order from the other doctor, they didn't have it on any schedule. We called the nurses station where dad is and they said it was a "computer gitch" other words for no one entered the order, I think. They said it was fixed...
So the cardiologist showed up this morning... finally and said he has a spot on a heart valve that he thinks is infection and that he does not think dad has congestive heart failure but rather that he has asperated pneumonia. Good greif... so he referred to an infectious diseases doctor who is supossed to be there this afternoon.
Now, after laying in a bed since Thursday Dad can not walk, well just barely with a walker and not far. He is not eating well today again, they said he ate a little better yesterday. He really wants to go home. They are bringing my mom over to spend as much of the day with him as she can.
This hospital has had a reputation for years of not being so good but there was really no alternative. His doctor works between there and a better hospital in Albany, GA. The cardiologist is supossed to by OK. I hope the ID doctor is good and this gets sorted out. We are going back either this evening or tomorrow morning, carrying a suit just in case.
I know what I want but I don't know all things. I pray that God will give the doctors eyes to see and knowledge to know... and that dad will recover so he can be there for my mom, with her dementia she really depends on him. She never knows what she wants about anything, she always asks (like at the table), "what is he having", and that is what she will have. I hope he recovers for her sake but if not we will do whatever we have to do.
At this point I just want someone to figure out what is wrong with him so they can give him the proper treatment before they kill him trying to treat something else.
This hospital actually lost my wife's grand father. He got jaundice. Went to the hospital, they took him from the room for something and he never came back. Finally someone asked about him and they realized that they did not know where he was. We found him in a room in the maternity ward. He was in a bed with an IV, the IV was empty and blood had backed up from his arm into the bottle.... luckily, that didn't change things. He was sick beyond repair, but it surely didn't help.
Ray Goff's dad, Jim Buck Goff went in there maybe 20 years ago with something that should not have been fatal and he died in there.
I wish we had an alternative but at this point we really dont... unless the ID doctor wants him moved.
I think this all started a few weeks ago when he had a small skin cancer cut off an ear. The doctor said that he bled a little when they removed the stitches and suspects that he got an infection at that point. The infection he found surprised him because it is usually found only in diabetics but mom and both his caretakers, my sister and her daughter are diabetic. We now have "Comfort Keepers" coming in on weekends and Bethany's Hospice is supossed to re-evaluate him as soon as he gets back home, if he does.
Well, that is pretty much all I know. We will be heading back down there either this evening or tomorrow AM. Putting work on hold. I have someone to work wh will get most everything done and Cindy has someone who can keep things running at her office but not fulltime.. it will work out though.
When I was young life was really easy, it was still fairly easy married with kids, as a grand parent it has gotten much harder... more to do than ever and less energy than ever... does it ever get any esier again?? I see commercials on TV of "retired" people and I wonder. I don't think I will ever be able to retire. I think retirement has become exclusive to members of big unions and government employees. Regular people who start and run small businesses get nothing but taken advantage of. I fully expect to have to work for the rest of my life even though I am 100% disabled. I can still make 12,000 a year and will be on medicare in 6 months (early because of disability)... the future is uncertain anymore... but I digress.
Please keep dad in your thoughts or prayers. If you don't believe in prayer, I am not asking you to... just a thought or mojo or whatever you have will be appreciated... and I appreciate you all. Sometimes I feel like my online friends are the only friends I really have. I am too busy for real friends. It is just you and my wife.
Well thanks,
Julien