It's not what you know, or act like you know... it's who you know

Last night was an interesting night in the waiting room. For those of you really paying attention the remote control and the body pillow remain on the top of the list for the best purchases yet. However the house shoes are slowly climbing their way in. It’s like I’m walking air with the memory foam. One of our house guest (The guy who finds it necessary to use his outside voice at 6 AM.) warned us that he was a Vietnam vet and not to be alarmed if he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming (are you kidding? I’ll be alarmed and probably changing my britches).  He warned us for a couple days, but apparently last night in the mist of his lawn mowing, felt the need to yell expletives out loud. I think we’re all getting used to sleeping with the lights on, and I’m starting to really enjoy the cocoon I’m sleeping in. I think I’m going to have to turn my lights on and turn the radio up to sleep anymore. My spine has been manipulated enough it feels good to sleep in a cockeyed position.

The doctors were actually on time this morning, and we really didn’t get any change in news. Dad isn’t requiring 100% oxygen saturation and is now on 55% requirement.  I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before but dad also has what is called an illeus. It’s a portion of his intestines that aren’t functioning appropriately, so we’re not sure if he’s getting the proper nutrition and medication he needs. The plan is it basically put sugar and nutrients through an IV because the medication through his stomach isn’t absorbing properly. The risk with this is that all the nutrients are a great transport for bacteria which is a potential problem. But the way we’re looking at it, is that the rewards outweigh the risks.

We’ve been talking to doctors, friends and friends of friends all day, to try and get as much information we can about the next step from here. We’ve been happy with care we have received here, but being a smaller hospital, we want to make sure we’re doing to best possible thing with the most options to make sure dad will recover. It’s been tough and trying, but there is no doubt he’d do the same for any of us. At this point we’re staying here in Hot Springs, letting the balloon pump do its job, and see if it’s getting better. If that doesn’t work, then the options we’ve been exploring may be more of a reality.

Dad has had a few problems during dialysis, and has been clotting in the machine. It’s been kind of confusing to the dialysis nurse, because he’s on heparin (blood thinner) and we’re not sure why it keeps clotting. He told me it’s because something going on in his body that’s fighting something.  They consulted a hematologist and they are switching up some of the meds and going to investigate further.

It was nice to see dad open his eyes again for me today, I hadn’t seen that in a day or two, and he was able to open them up when he heard me talking to him. It’s the little things like that keep my hopes high when I start to get discouraged. We need to keep our heads high, keep fighting, praying and hoping. They changed the balloon pump settings tonight where it assist with every other beat. What the pump is doing, is helping give extra oxygen to the heart when it relaxes to ensure it’s remaining healthy and beating appropriately.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some great people throughout my life, and establish some decent connections. I decided to put a few of those connections to use and ask around about cardiac surgeons in the Arkansas area since I know nothing about them. About midday one of my great friends from Haiti called with a connection and I was able to talk to a Surgeon in the D.C area who I’ve never met or talked to before. She was great she was honest and open, and willing to answer any questions I had. She put me into contact with a guy in Kentucky who is willing to get things arranged to transfer and accept dad if that’s what we wanted. I also had to opportunity to talk to someone who had been coached by my dad, and works at Baptist in Little rock as an anesthesiologist. Apparently dad also coached the vice president of the cardiologist team ( I don’t recall exactly) and they are willing to help any way they can. It’s nice to see people dad (the pope) has known over the years and the great things they are doing now and their willingness to help. I think it again shows the type of guy my dad is.

At this point, we’re waiting to see how the balloon pump works, and then we’ll go from there, but we want our options lined up just in case…