"When the going gets tough, the tough get going"

I will admit the idea for the blog wasn’t mine at all. A daughter of one of my previous patients would keep everyone updated with a blog on her father’s recovery and I also found myself checking daily to see what the new progress was. This will be my attempt to keep everyone updated to make it easier on all of us. I apologize for the poor grammar and mistakes that you may encounter, but I actually have an excuse this time due to a lack of sleep.

When trying to think of an idea for the name of a blog a few things were thrown out--my dad has also been known as a gentle giant, but he is also the owner of a store in which they have named Redeemed, because they believe everything deserves a second chance. I looked up the proper definition of redeemed and it is suiting for many different reasons. One of the ones that really struck me was a definition that said “to fulfill or carry out,” I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that it may not be just for my dad. My father has touched many lives and is continuing to even through these trials. I know this has made me a stronger person already and will continue too. To follow up on the gentle giant aspect of it, my dad is an intimidating character he’s 6’4”- 6’5”although he adamantly says 6’6” and about 330 pounds. He has a loud bark but not much of a bite. He’s a huge teddy bear at heart and has a great passion for many things in life especially family. He’s one of the most sensitive (in a good way) individuals I know (if you get past the intimidation factor) and has a great heart.

My dad has been having right shoulder pain but he had thought it was just a sore muscle or a bad gallbladder. He was standing in the shower trying to relieve some of his shoulder pain he then told my step mom that it was starting to feel better and she heard a crash and found him laying in the shower. As crazy as she is already, she started running around even crazier to the neighbors trying to get help to lift him out of the tub to start cpr. Eventually they were able to get up out of the tub.  My stepmom started cpr until the paramedics arrived about 15 minutes later.  

My step sister Courtney gave me a call to tell me the paramedics were on the way as I was going to watch the Ohio State game in Cleveland and as I thought of turning around to go home, I thought that my dad would kill me if I missed OSU playing in the NCAA tourney.  So after not really paying attention to the game and talking to numerous people on the phone, Ohio State crushes George Mason, meanwhile they were able to get a pulse but they were fully breathing for him. As they arrived at the hospital he eventually went into the cath lab and he was found to have a 100% blockage of the LAD or  his main artery that supplies blood to the left ventricle of his heart. A stent was placed and successfully opened the artery.  In total they had to shock his heart a total of 9 times (3 at home and 6 in the cath lab)

The earliest flight I was able to get was Monday at 10:20 and I arrived at the hospital with my grandparents at 5 pm. It’s definitely an experience I’m not used to in traveling with my grandparents. My grandma forgot to take out a pair of scissors she had and she didn’t bag any of her liquids that she had, so we spent quite awhile at the security section getting everything solved. I have great family and friends that have taken me and picked me up from the airport. Jeff was kind enough to not go into work and wake up at the crack of dawn to drive me to Cleveland and then Lisa came and picked us up and drove us an hr and a half hr to the hospital.

As we arrived at the hospital I was greeted by yet more family, and have been smothered with hugs, which certainly hasn’t been a bad thing. I arrived passed visiting hours and the nurses were kind enough to let me in. It was definitely hard to see my dad like this with 12 -13 IV drips hanging and numerous other gadgets attached to him. It’s hard to get words out to talk to him, but as soon as I walked in, he did open his eyes (he must have smelled my odor) and he started to move his arms and legs and become anxious. It was so reassuring to see him and know that he recognized me. I told him to calm down and grabbed onto his hand which seemed to the trick (although I think most of it was the drugs). He does seem to understand what we’re saying to him, but he is having problems keeping his eyes open for more than a few seconds. They have him pretty heavily sedated because his heart needs to rest and recover. He is sure to have lots of broken ribs because of the cpr, and has a pretty bad wound on his backside, from knocking all the faucets out of the shower. He has been too critical to move around so he’s been in one position for quite awhile.

The therapist in me had to check his heels for pressure and ask if he was being turned. They are going to try and move him to a different bed tomorrow that will turn him more often and relieve some pressure. He has made some small gains, he is not requiring the machine to fully breathe for him anymore and they are going to try and wean him a little more. His kidneys and liver are not functioning and he had a port put in for dialysis to begin tomorrow if his kidneys continue to not work. Keep praying that he’ll keep making gains, big or small, any gain is a miracle. It was a miracle things happened the way they were with my step mom home to respond immediately. He was actually supposed to be driving with the rest of the family to Texas for a vacation, but it didn’t work out for everyone to leave because of a few circumstances. Thank God this didn’t happen while he was actually driving with 4 young kids in the car and everyone else.

I was able to go back and talk to him again with my sister, and we were trying to joke around with him, and he seemed to give us the scowl face which made us laugh. I’m attempting to bring in a little humor, but if you know me, you know my jokes are lame.

We joke about the rules we’re already breaking in the ICU waiting room/ hotel/diner. Just a few of those broken rules are 1. Do not move furniture (we need beds you know) 2. No cell phones in the ICU (I forget to turn it off) 3. No food or drinks in the waiting room (are you kidding this is the south.. we have a pot luck to feed the entire hospital.) 4. Stop at the volunteer desk. 5. Wash hands before entering and exiting. 6. Two immediate family members at a time (you joking). And this is only the first day….

Something that has stuck with me ever since I’ve heard about everything is the last thing I heard my dad say to me. As I was talking to him Saturday night, he hung up with “Love ya tons bud,” which is a little different than his normal love you. It hit me as soon as I hung up and still haven’t forgotten about it. I know that he has a ton of prayers and love going out for him, and I have reminded him about it whenever I get the chance. I appreciate the outpouring of support we have seen, and it means the world to us.

Time to attempt to get some sleep, There is no light switch for this room, so it’s really bright.. should make for a good night.