Monday Night Update

I thought I better update now while I can even though there is half the day left.

Last night Mom, Tammy and I stayed up at the hospital in the waiting room. We got a little bit of sleep and mom and I got some giggles in. I have come to the conclusion that when mom and I are extremely tired and we're together, it doesn't take much to make us laugh.

The nurses that dad has had, have been excellent! Even though dad is in SICU, we have been allowed to come and go as we please as long as we keep it limited to two. So last night I was checking on dad every 1 1/2 hours. We would just go in and hold his hand and rub his fuzzy head :), we would let him know that he was doing good and that his #'s looked good. I'd remind him to just relax and let the machine do it's job.

Last night was the roughest on all of us. Dad's blood pressure was low, it would fluctuate a lot. The lowest Tam and I saw it in the night was 67/36, but the main #'s we were seeing were 80's-90's/40's. They tried giving him meds and they would work for a short time. The surgeon said it was because he lost so much volume (fluids) during surgery, so they really started pumping the fluids, including more blood, in him.

Dad was also awake and was responding. He also tried to communicate my mouthing words. I am NOT a lip reader! That is an awful feeling knowing that he needs something and you can't figure it out so you can't do anything about it. There were a few things we were able to figure out, 1. He wanted the fan on high and facing on him better. 2. He wanted to know how many by-passes. 3. His left hand was numb all the way up to his elbow. (The nurse said that is very normal and the feeling will come back.)

This morning his blood pressure was up and holding! So around 1:00 pm they were able to pull him off of the ventilator. He is so releaved and so is the rest of us!

Mom is holding up pretty good. I can tell she has been overwhelmed, she wants to make no decisions. It's hard for her to go in and see dad as he is, so she limits her visits so she won't break down in front of him (my thoughts, not her words). I'm trying to make sure that she's never without one of us girls. Us girls are doing pretty good, there were a couple of break downs yesterday, but it seems some rest helps.

Jeff has been the best! He has stayed home with all the kids. He's missed work without much complaining but it's been awesome that I don't have to worry and I can spend my time at the hospital giving mom and dad support.