My dad has been in the hospital for 7 days

[hacko]

Sorry to hear this - hoping for the best. I am lucky to have both my parents but at 85 and 84. Every time the phone call comes from one of them I fear the worst. So far only had Dad pass out in a cornfield on his morning walk from sugar being to low but the symptoms are the same as a stroke so big scare. I have Sunday lunch with them every 2 weeks on a regular basis and then some other occasions . Just last night they came up and we went Chinese buffet.

[ironfist]

Adding my best wishes to your family, hope he pulls through ok

[cardboardbox]

Thanks for the thoughts, much appreciated. I'll post an update soon.

[Teenwolf]

It's hard seeing medical professionals who act like dispassionate robots, devoid of feeling. When I used to encounter this, I tried to tell myself that doctors needed to have this disposition in order to do the work without feeling drawn into the emotions of the patients or their families, so they dont act out of emotion. Hard to witness, for sure.

Playing an active role in advocating for your loved ones is extremely important. It sounds like you're doing everything you possibly can. I hope your dad makes a full recovery.

[Vecmizer]

Sorry to hear this. Best wishes.

[cardboardbox]

Today was day 12 in the hospital. My dad is doing better, we had a few more scares but they turned out to be nothing although they really scared as at the time. Dad ended up having ICU delirium for real this time but since moving to a room a couple days ago he's been getting better. For so much brain loss, he seems to be mostly like his old self, I guess we'll find out more later. The obvious physical losses are his vision and his left side is weak and hard to control so walking is not happening very well right now. He lost the vision in the left side of both eyes (or maybe just the left eye, I'm not completely sure) and may not be able to drive anymore. We are expecting him to be discharged soon and then its on to rehab for 10-14 days minimum and then home where he must have someone keeping an eye on him 24 hours a day.

Its amazing how fast and suddenly lives can change.

The hospital is investigating but so far they say they have found no fault on their part. No surprise there... What makes me angry is the hospital staff didnt make their best effort. The people investigating ask us questions like "Did you tell the nurse about his symptoms, vision loss, confusion" and of course I say yes but I counter and ask shouldnt an ICU nurse and various doctors be able to spot a stroke before me? What if a patient has no family and friends there, are nurses incapable of picking up on symptoms and getting help?

[heyelander]

glad to hear of the improvement... dad continues to be in my prayers.

[cardboardbox]

glad to hear of the improvement... dad continues to be in my prayers.

thanks. He started worrying about how much all this is going to cost so I think he's on his way back.

Helicopter ride was $18k.

[TranaGreg]

fwiw, when my mom had her stroke early last year for several days she couldn't speak or move her entire right side ... but after a couple of months of rehab she's about 80% of where she was pre-stroke. She talks normally, though quieter, and she has full mobility, tho her fine motor skills are still a but sloppy (e.g. her handwriting tails off).

Don't consider the things you see in the first few days or weeks after a stroke permanent.

[cardboardbox]

fwiw, when my mom had her stroke early last year for several days she couldn't speak or move her entire right side ... but after a couple of months of rehab she's about 80% of where she was pre-stroke. She talks normally, though quieter, and she has full mobility, tho her fine motor skills are still a but sloppy (e.g. her handwriting tails off).

Don't consider the things you see in the first few days or weeks after a stroke permanent.

yeah they keep saying 3 months before you can get an idea and 6-12 months total recovery. My dad is depressed and my mom has basically been in meltdown mode for 2 weeks but I'm trying to hang in there and just spend some time with him most days and expect him to get a lot better than he is now. Two heart attacks and multiple strokes is a tough hit to take but I'm hopefully.

How did your mom end up? Better than 80%?

[cardboardbox]

First day of rehab today, went pretty well considering all that happened. Long term memory is good but short term my dad doesnt remember some of what I tell him. Mom says he was like that before the heart attacks and strokes. :|

[onejayhawk]

Rehab is awful until you consider the alternative. I lost my father earlier this year when he decided to stop fighting through the pain and medication.

J

[cardboardbox]

Rehab is awful until you consider the alternative. I lost my father earlier this year when he decided to stop fighting through the pain and medication.

J

what happened to him?

[TranaGreg]

yeah they keep saying 3 months before you can get an idea and 6-12 months total recovery. My dad is depressed and my mom has basically been in meltdown mode for 2 weeks but I'm trying to hang in there and just spend some time with him most days and expect him to get a lot better than he is now. Two heart attacks and multiple strokes is a tough hit to take but I'm hopefully.

How did your mom end up? Better than 80%?

sorry for the delayed reply ... I'd say my mom stuck at around 80%, although it's kinda hard to tell what symptoms are post-stroke vs just aging (she's 88 almost 89 now). Her mental faculties aren't what they were a year ago - physically she's pretty good but her recall, stamina, etc have all taken a bit of a step back. But like I said, she's almost 90 so it's hard to tell. She does sleep way more now than even a year ago.

Fwiw, my mom did find physio difficult but the progress was really quite dramatic - she kind of fed off that so was actually pretty motivated to go through it as she started to see results.

[cardboardbox]

So we just spent another three nights in ICU and then 5 nights in a hospital room. While at the last rehab place my dad had more brain bleeding. We thought he was just tired from the rehab that he really struggled to do. Couldnt keep his eyes open, didnt want to eat, terrible headache... Which really wasnt that much different than when we were discharged from the previous hospital but it got a little worse each day. Finally on the 3rd day of rehab a dr ordered a CT scan and then my dad was rushed to ER/ICU. Today is discharge day again, off to rehab, again.

We've been to 3 hospitals, 4 ICU's, about to be 2 rehabs. Dr says its not that common to have a heart attack immediately after a stent is put in, not that common to have a stroke after a heart attack and its not that common for a ischemic stroke (the non bleeding type) to turn hemorrhagic. My dad has been very unlucky for all that to happen. Oh and lots of delirium.