Thanksgiving Day 2007 - this isn't happening...

Thanksgiving Day 2007 - this isn't happening... This past Thanksgiving Day, halfway past noon, my Dad passed away. He was only 59. He had Pneumonia back in June that put him in the hospital for a couple of weeks. After he got out of the hospital he started having chest pains and shortness of breath. They found 2 arteries blocked enough that they put in stints, but the bigger problem was a fluid build up around his heart that caused the pumping action of the heart to be a lot less effective than normal. Think of one of those stress relieving balls that you squeeze. A normal heart would be equal to a strong 21 year old squeezing it while my Dad's heart would be equal to a 85 year old with arthritis trying to squeeze the ball. They started him on all kinds of medications, some of which made him more sick, so they had to tweak it or try different medications. He was also on oxygen at night to help him sleep better. They were also talking to specialists to have a defibrillator installed on his heart.


On Sunday November 18, I got a call from my Mom around 1pm. She was crying to the point I couldn't understand a word she was saying, but I heard the undeniable sound of EMS/Fire in the background. I dropped the phone and hauled ass to their house. 3 cops, 2 fire units, and 1 ambulance were there. My Mom told me Dad was sitting in his chair watching football when he started gasping for air. She ran around to him and tried to help him. Then she called 911. The first police officer arrived within 2 minutes, he helped get him out of the chair and started CPR. Fire was next, they used a defibrillator to bring him back. As they worked to stabilize him for transport, things were looking good. He had a strong pulse and blood pressure, but he needed some assistance breathing.


We got to the emergency room and they started running their tests. The initial blood work that determines possible heart damage came back good. After running other tests, they determined he had severe pneumonia. His left lung was completely filled while his right lung was about half full. They said it was so severe he couldn't breathe and the lack of oxygen to the heart caused the congestive heart failure. They began the process of cooling his body to 32 degrees Celsius. Since he was running a fever, they couldn't use saline injections, they had to use the old fashion way. That process requires them to put him in a comma and he does receive medication that paralyzes him. This is all done to help save the brain.


Tuesday morning his heart rate dropped below 30 and the defibrillator they had on him shocked him 4 times. They installed an external pacemaker to insure his heart rate stayed above 50. His blood pressure rate was also fluctuating to a very low unsafe number, so they had him on medications that would keep that rate up. Later that evening they began to warm him back up. At some point they took him off the paralyzing and sedation medication and a neurologist came in and talked to us about what he was going to do the next day to assess if there was any brain damage. We were also told this day that his chances of survival were not good. If he were to go into cardiac arrest again, the only thing they could do was to use the defibrillator again. He was on the strongest medication they had to keep his blood pressure up. The bad thing about this medication is it works against his other organs, especially the kidneys, because the medication tries to keep blood flowing to the brain. Then you had the fact that he had such severe pneumonia. There were just too many really bad things going on at the same time and they were all working against each other. His heart should be pumping out 50-60% of the blood, but it was only doing 5%.


On Wednesday his kidney's began to fail, so they began a type of dialysis that would just keep toxins out of his blood without removing any fluid. He was swelling up pretty good too. Everything else was stable.


On Thursday morning he began to respond to commands. He was told to hold up 5 fingers with his left hand, he did. 2 fingers with his right hand, he did. Move your right foot, your left foot, he did. If you talked to him, he'd look in your direction, but we weren't sure if he could actually see. He wasn't on any pain medication either, because the neurologist said they couldn't assess brain damage if he was on pain medication. With all those tubes coming out of him, we knew he was in a lot of pain. He responded to his grandkids which was really great. Unfortunately for me, I had developed a cold and they limited the time I could be in the ICU area and I had to wear a mask. He didn't respond to my Darth Vader impression of "Luke I'm your Father". We were feeling good about things.


Then my wife came out and told me to find my mother and brother and to hurry. Luckily she just came back up from a smoke and we all went in. He had no blood pressure. They tried giving him more medication, but nothing. His heart rate was 50, which was basically the pacemaker, and his breathing was due to the machine. He did not want to be resuscitated if machines were the only thing keeping him alive. He was gone.


My Dad's first cousin was the pharmacist at the hospital, and she constantly checked on him. A very good friend of the family ran the nursing departments at the hospital, so they always made sure the best doctors and the right medication was being used. I'm so glad they were there to help explain things and insure things were being done right.


It has been very hard these past few days. My poor mother is a complete wreck. I've been on an emotional roller coaster. Having family and just hugging someone makes things feel better for a while. My brother and I have been taking turns spending the night at my mom's house. She had a house full Friday morning. I had my cousins from St. Paul and Chicago staying with me these last couple of days. That helped my son a bit since we were able to play some 2v2 Halo 3 late at night. I'm still trying to figure out how he is handling this. My grandfather died when I was only 9 too, he was just 52. That was my Dad's Dad, he had cancer. The funeral was yesterday with the viewing on Sunday. My Dad knew so many people and I saw so many familiar faces from when I was a kid. He was really a great man, very kind, honest, and loving. He wore his heart on the outside and was a straight shooter. He was a great grandfather and loved those kids so much. I'll get through this just like I have for my grandfather, grandmother, and aunt. Remember the good times, and there are so many good times to remember.


Love you Dad.

Posted by T3muJin on Tue Nov 27, 2007 @ 2:56 pm EDT | 25 Comments