After Mom had some time to think and pray about it, it has been decided to have eye surgery on Oct. 7, 2015. Then if that one goes well then she will have the other eye operated on in November.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Mom is going to have eye surgery for cataracts
I wanted to give everybody an update on Mom and her eyes. Back in May before Dad's passing I had the opportunity to take both Mom and Dad into an Opthamologist. We had been told by several optometrists the past years that Mom's eyes were getting serious and would need to be looked at. The Opthomologist said that Mom has severe cataracts in both eyes, but the worse is her left. He was surprised that she wasn't in pain, because the left eye has a duct that is already impinged by the cataract which typically causes severe pain. Mom says she is not in pain, but that her left eye is very cloudy. This has been the case for several years now.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Dad's Status - 1:45 am - 6/24/2015
Well today is Dad's 84th birthday!! Happy Birthday Buddy!!!
They just barely took him to get his CT-Scan. They had to wait awhile, because dad's blood pressure dropped to 80/40 and stayed there for several hours. They started to ween him down from the sedation medicine in order to help with the blood pressure. It worked and it popped up to 116/50. They immediately ran him down to get the scans. He was moving around more, as in feet and legs and hands, which was comforting.
We'll have the results from that come in and that will help us know even more of what we are dealing with.
Dad's Status - 6:47 pm
Dad is doing better as far as his vitals being regulated. Heart Rate = 93, Blood Pressure = 121/68. His eco-cardiogram came back positive. The Dr. said that his heart looked, "great." and that the arrhythmia could be indicative of electrical issues rather than physical damage, which was ruled out by the eco-cardiogram. He could have suffered a mild heart attack from the respiratory crash. They are going to keep watching that part of it.
They are going to give him in a few hours a CT-Scan of his head and stomach. The head to see if there is anything head related to his incoherency and unresponsiveness, ie. stroke. The stomach to see why he still has stuff being sucked out and to see if there is any other reason for infections.
The next 24 will be revealing as to where all this is going. I was able to administer a blessing to Dad with the help of Elder Bingham, who is serving a S&I mission here from Idaho.
Dad's Status - 3:15 pm
They took Dad off the Propofol that they had him on from the ER and introduce some others. He went through a little difficult period, because of the effect of the Propofol. His heartrate and blood pressure skyrockted and you could tell he was very uncomfortable. He started to throw up some more. They were able to get him stable somewhat with the new pain/sedation drugs, his heart rate is 106 and blood pressure 196/97.
His urine sample came back positive for infection and his blood sample indicates sepsis. They have an anti-biotic running through the iv, but that will take some time to have an effect. They are not yet sure if his arrhythmia is from the infection or the respiratory crash. The eco-cardiagram results have not come back yet to help make that determination.
Dad´s status - 11:28 am - 6/23/2015
Hey everyone I will resurrect this blog site again to give regular updates as to Dad's situation. I want to say thank you to Tim and Bart who took on the task to get the word out to all family members.
Dad is in a more stabilzed condition as of right now. He is sedated and not coherent, but moves and twitches so that you know that he is still here. Tests are still be run and results will be coming back throughout today and the next several days to try and determine the underlying reason for what happened this morning.
There are two things that are being closely monitored right now as I write this: 1) respiration = He is still not able to breath completely on his own, although that is getting better. He is on a respirator and it is doing about 30% of the work right now. It was doing almost 90% once they first intubated him; 2) He is having ventricle arrhythmia, which is an irregular heartbeat that it is in a concerning place.
He attending physician is, Dr. O'Reilly who has been looking in continually so far and seems very competent. He is in room #1044 at Martha Jefferson Hospital.
This morning around 6 am we were awakened with screams from mom. She had found Dad throwing up in bed, incoherent, and shaking. As soon as I got down to their bedroom, I was able to access Dad's condition while Lucy consoled and calmed mother. Dad was awake but very unresponsive. He was soaking wet and had throw up all over him. I got him to sit up and tried to get him cleaned up, all the while trying to talk to him and get him to respond. After not recognizing me or mother or even able to give me his name, we called 911 and got the ambulance over to take him in.
While they were loading him into the ambulance, Dad went into respiratory failure and heart beat irregularity. His blood pressure was 255/80. They quickly got him over to the ER near our home, where they determined to intubate him. They determined that it was best to admit him into ICU and they started to prepare him for transportation to the main hospital, where we are now.
I know Mom and Dad would appreciate all the prayers and reflections that you can give at this time. I post any updates as I get them.
Dad is in a more stabilzed condition as of right now. He is sedated and not coherent, but moves and twitches so that you know that he is still here. Tests are still be run and results will be coming back throughout today and the next several days to try and determine the underlying reason for what happened this morning.
There are two things that are being closely monitored right now as I write this: 1) respiration = He is still not able to breath completely on his own, although that is getting better. He is on a respirator and it is doing about 30% of the work right now. It was doing almost 90% once they first intubated him; 2) He is having ventricle arrhythmia, which is an irregular heartbeat that it is in a concerning place.
He attending physician is, Dr. O'Reilly who has been looking in continually so far and seems very competent. He is in room #1044 at Martha Jefferson Hospital.
This morning around 6 am we were awakened with screams from mom. She had found Dad throwing up in bed, incoherent, and shaking. As soon as I got down to their bedroom, I was able to access Dad's condition while Lucy consoled and calmed mother. Dad was awake but very unresponsive. He was soaking wet and had throw up all over him. I got him to sit up and tried to get him cleaned up, all the while trying to talk to him and get him to respond. After not recognizing me or mother or even able to give me his name, we called 911 and got the ambulance over to take him in.
While they were loading him into the ambulance, Dad went into respiratory failure and heart beat irregularity. His blood pressure was 255/80. They quickly got him over to the ER near our home, where they determined to intubate him. They determined that it was best to admit him into ICU and they started to prepare him for transportation to the main hospital, where we are now.
I know Mom and Dad would appreciate all the prayers and reflections that you can give at this time. I post any updates as I get them.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday dinner together
We were able to enjoy a nice Sunday dinner with the Becks before they leave back for Utah tomorrow. Dad was even able to come out and be with us. He is still struggling to get back on his feet. The doctor changed his gout medicine and we are hoping that it will get him better.
Mom continues to get raving reviews from the in home health care nurses. She will start radiation in two weeks.
We will miss a lot Becky and can't say enough about what she has done for mom and dad.
Some other news. Mom and Dad have now got an Ipad that they are starting to use. You can see it in the picture. Dad's holding it. They had an Ipod touch for a couple of years but always struggled with the smallness of the screen and buttons. They are excited to try it again with the Ipad.
We signed them up with a new email address as well. It is:
bobandalicejo@gmail.com
They welcome emails and are hoping that in time to be able to write back.
Friday, March 18, 2011
New Blog Name & Mom's Post Surgery Appt. - 03/18/11
I have decided to change the name of the blog to Alice Jo & Buddy's Status. Mom continues to recover from her surgery, surprising all her nurses and physicians. In fact today with Dr. Summers her pathology report finally was received and was reviewed. Dr. Summers was excited to share the results with us. One of the amazing results was that the final size of the tumor was .9 cm. Let that sink in. Only .9 cm! What began as the size of a tennis ball had been reduced with the chemo to not even a centimeter. She also told us that the tumor was shown to still have chemo treatment in it. She said that is impressive and exciting for them to see, because it shows that the chemo was doing exactly what it was suppose to, attack the cancer. One other thing she shared with us was that beside the lymph nodes she knew were cancerous, she had removed 7 other ducts to see, two of which she knew were already infected. The others were a preventative measure to just make sure other areas were good. And sure enough, the 5 other ducts were proved to not be infected. Great News. Dr. Summers agrees that Mom should be a poster child for breast cancer survivors. Mom only needs to come back for a check up in 6 months. That is two doctors down and only one to go. Dr. Spalding is up next with radiation.
Dad on the other hand has had some difficult twists and setbacks. Many of you know his constant battle with gout. Well with the last round we were noticing that he just wasn't getting better and this was concerning. Becky, who has been a big blessing for all of us, suggested that we prick Dad's finger and get a glucose number. His feet were really swollen and discolored which is evidence of poor circulation possibly caused by diabetes. So we did take his number and it was 238, which is extremely high. We waited two hours, he had just drank some orange juice, and yet it was over 230. We quickly made an appointment to see the doctor. There after some tests Dr. Murray diagnosed dad as being diabetic. He prescribed him some medication that he hopes that will aid in bringing things around. He wants to see Dad back in 3 weeks to do some more tests, but till then has put Dad on a strict, strict diet program. He hopes that it was a result stress, and the gout and so forth.
So from now on this blog will be about both Mom and Dad and will hopefully be about not just diseases and illnesses, but good reports about them and their experiences as well.
Dad on the other hand has had some difficult twists and setbacks. Many of you know his constant battle with gout. Well with the last round we were noticing that he just wasn't getting better and this was concerning. Becky, who has been a big blessing for all of us, suggested that we prick Dad's finger and get a glucose number. His feet were really swollen and discolored which is evidence of poor circulation possibly caused by diabetes. So we did take his number and it was 238, which is extremely high. We waited two hours, he had just drank some orange juice, and yet it was over 230. We quickly made an appointment to see the doctor. There after some tests Dr. Murray diagnosed dad as being diabetic. He prescribed him some medication that he hopes that will aid in bringing things around. He wants to see Dad back in 3 weeks to do some more tests, but till then has put Dad on a strict, strict diet program. He hopes that it was a result stress, and the gout and so forth.
So from now on this blog will be about both Mom and Dad and will hopefully be about not just diseases and illnesses, but good reports about them and their experiences as well.
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