Took a break from the computer!

So the first thing tht yo need to know is that my dad has been at home for a couple weeks and he is recovering and gaining strength back quite well.

The next thing you need to know is that it took me 6 days to drive backto North Carolina because we drove across Canada, which is about the same distance but western Ontario is a slower drive - very beautiful, just slower.  We had to stop and stick our toes into the biggest lake, Lake Superior. 

Well, my suggestion was to put our toes in, they decided to throw rocks in!

We also stopped in Toronto, the biggest city in Canada to see the biggest tower. This is all we saw...

The fog was so thick that only the base of the CN Tower was visible.

Then we stopped in Welland to visit some relatives and wished that we could have stayed longer, but we had to keep going.  We stopped briefly at Niagara Falls to see the biggest waterfall in Canada.

Stunning, breathtaking - all of it.  We have to go back!

Ok, so it was a great drive and we got to do a few fun things this time, but as I said it took 6 days to get home.  Meanwhile I was not checking email and once I finally did there were something like 1,546 unread emails. I really didn't want to deal with all that so instead I turned off the computer and read some books for a few days, which turned into a couple weeks and several books!  I am still trying to get caught up, which seems to be the story of my life!  Anyway, I do what I can and hope that you hang in there to see what happens next...

At some point I will go back and post more photos from our trip.

Happy Birthday Papa

How blessed were we to be able to celebrate Papa's birthday with him.  He was able to come home for a few hours on the afternoon of his birthday.  I am wondering if have high school friends as nurses helped?  Thanks Carla and Wanda for taking such good care of my Dad!

 The kids decorated the front step for when Papa came home from the hospital. 

I love that this was their idea.

 

When it was time for cake Papa was resting so his grandkids were thrilled

to be able to blow out the candles for him.

 

Not only were we blessed to be home for Papa's birthday but we get to spend time with his mom,

my precious Grandma who is GG to the kids.

 

GG uses a walker, and at the time Papa was still using a walker.  One of the kids, I think it was Carlee, noticed that both GG and Papa were using walkers and suggested that they should have a walker race. LOL never a dull moment!



overdue update

Seems that the last several days have flown by and I have not even turned the computer on!!!

Anyways I thought I better post a quick update on my dad...

He has been slowly improving every day and his strength is returning, just very slowly.  He is able to move around a bit more and is even managing to get in and out of bed by himself, although it is very tiring for him.  Yesterday was a big day for him as the doctor at the hospital he was at agreed to send him back to the hospital at home.  This is a really big deal, especially for my mom because she can go back and forth to the hospital several times a day.

I am sure that it is also nice for him to back where there are nurses that he knows he can pester.  Two of the nurses have been good friends of mine since elementary school!!!  Also being at the hospital at home means that there will be more people who will be able to visit, which will give new faces and more things to think about.  At this point it is all looking pretty good, except for his appetite. 

When it rains it pours!

Yesterday was my turn at the hospital with Papa.  When I got there I found out that he had been moved from ICU up to a regular room!   Of course, this is good news because he is no longer sick enough to be in ICU!  However, I quickly realized that the big change will be with the level of nursing care he will be receiving.  I was there all afternoon and there was very little contact with the nurses.  He is still incredibly weak and still cannot get himself in and out of bed on his own so I am concerned about that.  However, it might make him do more for himself which will hopefully increase his strength.  Anyway, I was thinking that we would have to spend even more time at the hospital to help him out.....

Then we found a bunch of water in the basement late last night!  Mom hauled out the shop vacs and we vacuumed and sucked up gallons and gallons and gallons and gallons of water and it just keeps seeping through the floor.  Places that we had just sucked up are soon sopping wet again.  The worst offender was the hole in the bathroom floor that is still there from when they had to fix a crack in the basement wall.  I would guess that this hole held about 5 gallons of water.  We would take all the water out of it and it was full again within 30 minutes! So every 30 minutes one of us were in there emptying the hole and sucking water out of the carpet - neither of us slept much!  Then this morning mom called a friend to help her set up a sump pump in the hole, then at least we wouldn't have to worry about that - just the water seeping up through the floor...sigh... 

Of course I have the strangest kids in the world and they thought this was all very exciting and soon had all their pant legs rolled up like mine.  Then they started running back and forth on the wet carpet singing "Slippety Slide, Slippety Slippety Slide".  I seriously need a nap!

No more tubes and wires!

On Saturday we were treated to one of the worst blizzards many people around here can remember - including my 89 year old Grandma!  Sunday we were completely blocked in until a family friend was able to get to us with a Bobcat.  However, even though we would have been able to get out of town, most of the highways between here and the city where Papa is in the hospital were reporting that travel was not recommended.  So obviously we were not able to get to the hospital on Saturday or Sunday.  My mom was able to talk to Papa on the phone once and then he even called us on Sunday!  That was a surprise!!

So after two days of not seeing him at all, my mom went in today.  She said that he has been taken off of oxygen completely!  And all his IV's and whatever other wires he was attached to have been removed as well.  That is simply amazing to me as just one week ago he was in a medically induced coma and was on a ventilator doing most of the breathing for him!!!  A walking miracle for sure!

Well, speaking of walking - he actually is not doing much of that yet.  He is still very weak but is slowly and steadily improving.  The physical therapists were there twice today and got him up to walk a short distance.  At one point he was seated in a wheelchair and asked mom if it was locked.  She said that it was and asked if he wanted it unlocked, which he did.  He managed to take himself for a little spin into the hallway!  Progress!

The complaint of the day is that he is not eating enough, so we are praying that he will gain a bigger appetite so that his strength will come back more quickly...

strength slowly returning

I have not posted for a couple days because there has not been much change with my dad.  He was taken off of the breathing machine on Tuesday and has been breathing fine and has not been in any pain.  His meals have been slowly changing from clear fluids to this evening he had a sandwich.  Progress!!!

He has also been getting some strength back, although this is a very slow.  When I was there on Thursday he managed to pick up a glass and take a drink of water and put the glass back down without any assistance.  When he put it down he kind of smirked and said whew that was a pretty big job.  I laughed and said yes indeed it was.  Of course what you don't know is that there is a family joke about pretty big jobs and being pretty busy - and it would take too long to explain and wouldn't be nearly as funny so I won't bother you with it.  The point is that his sense of humor is there and we are seeing him come back.  At one point he was even humming along to a song on the radio. 

The downside is that many of his comments are kind of strange and he is often very confused. According to the nurses he is suffering from sleep deprivation and one nurse even called it ICU-itis.  At this point we are praying that they can find a good medication to help him get a few nights of good restful sleep and the confusion will go away. 

progress

Today was a really good day with a great big step in the right direction.  My mom and I have been taking turns going to the hospital and today was my day.  I got to dad's room early in the afternoon and he was awake but still on the ventilator.  His nurse told me that they were waiting for the doctor and then they would take the breathing tubes out. 

This particular nurse is one of our favorites and I had some good phone conversations with him while I was still in North Carolina.  Anyway, I was somewhat amused by his obvious impatience with the doctor!  Well, he soon cornered the doctor and I was kicked out for quite awhile.  When I returned the breathing tubes were gone and he was only using a breathing mask.  This mask provided him with moist air as his throat and vocal cords would be sore for awhile.

For the next couple of hours he was on this mask and he could have ice chips.  His voice was very raspy and even though he tried to talk a little it was very hard to understand him.  Later they took the mask away and he was put on oxygen with just the nasal prongs.  Then we could understand him a little better and his voice was coming back a bit more. 

Soon his gourmet supper arrived - juice and blue jello!  I know my dad well enough to know that jello of any kind would not be appealing.  However, we joked that because Papa had blue jello that the kids would be wanting blue jello and he agreed with that!  He ate some of the jello but was more interested in the juice and kept asking for ice water. 

He had been completely sedated for an entire week and so he is still very weak and it is going to take quite some time for him to get strength back, but today was a huge step in the right direction.  And I when I was about to leave I said "I Love You Papa" and then I heard the 5 most wonderful words ever "I Love You Too Sweetheart".   Precious, precious words indeed!

2 steps forward

Today was another good day for my dad.  He was off of sedation and breathing on his own longer than yesterday.  This is very good progress and they are thinking about taking the breathing tube out soon!

When my mom left this evening they were sedating him again for the night so that he can get some good rest.  Maybe the tubes will come out as early as tomorrow.  Now that would be a huge blessing!

Easter Blessing

Today was Easter Sunday, so the kids were excited that the Easter Bunny came.  Then we went to church and after lunch I went up to the hospital.  When I arrived the nurse told me that my dad was breathing on his own.  The ventilator was providing some support but essentially he was breathing on his own and that was fantastic news.  While I was there they stopped the sedation drugs so that he would wake up.  That took some time and he was pretty groggy the whole time I was there, but imagine how you would feel after being sedated into a coma for nearly a week!!

Once the sedation wore off a bit he was able to respond to commands and wiggled his toes and squeezed our hands.  Of course he could not talk to us because of the tubes in his throat, but he was able to move his head to answer yes or no questions.  He shook his head no when asked if he was in pain.  I don't know if he knew it was me talking to him or if he thought it was just another nurse, but he did respond to some of the things I said to him.  It was a busy afternoon and I stayed much longer than I had intended and even missed the steak my brother barbequed for supper.  If you don't know my brother, then you have missed out on some fantastic cooking.  I have no cooking skills because he got all of them!  So I was slightly bummed that I missed that but I also was not about to leave the hospital while my dad was awake.

Anyway, after a couple of hours his breathing became more labored and the numbers were starting to get out of the ranges they wanted to see.  They decided to sedate him again and put him back on the breathing machine.  They were pleased with the progress he made, but his lungs still need more rest.  He will rest through the night and will be woken up again tomorrow.


Another bit of information... my cousin is an xray tech at the hospital my dad is in, and she has not been doing this job very long.  However, she knew at some point she would have to xray someone that she knew and who was very, very sick.  I cannot imagine how she managed to do it but she did and I am pretty sure she will have to xray him again tomorrow.  If you know her please give her an extra big hug for what she does.  Not only is it a very hard thing to see but would be even harder to do your job when it is someone you know and love...

This is where we are...

A couple weeks ago my mom called to tell me that my dad had been admitted into the hospital in the small town where they live.  He had not been feeling well, had no appetite and was in a lot of pain for a couple days.  So on a Monday he went to the doctor and was sent over to the hospital to be admitted.

***A quick disclaimer!  Some of this information is second and third hand and even many days old.  Much has occurred in these last couple of weeks so I may not have the terminology correct or even the dates.  I certainly have no medical training and don't have a clue about most of it, other than what we are being told.  However, the purpose of me even posting this information is because there are so many people who care about my dad and our family that we cannot possibly keep everyone up to date on a daily basis except through this blog.  My prayer is that WHEN my dad recovers he will not strangle me for doing this!!!***

A diagnosis of pancreatitis was soon determined and the treatment/testing was to do several blood tests to determine what the pancreas was doing and how the digestive enzymes were functioning. As this was going on the fluids in his body were building up. This went on for most of the week until he was tranferred to the hospital in the next biggest town for more testing and with increased pain and now a fever.

After a couple days in this hospital his condition continued to deteriorate as the fluids continued to build up, including fluid in his lungs.  He was having more trouble breathing and was on oxygen.  One evening his breathing became very labored and his heart rate went really high and was irregular.  That got him a pretty fast trip to ICU.  However, after a couple hours the medication worked and his heart rate was back down and his breathing was much better. 

Over the next couple of days there was improvement and seemed that he was improving, enough so that I had decided not to make the 2000 mile trip home.  But then on Saturday they determined that there was some pnemonia in his lung and went downhill very quickly from there.  By Monday night he was completely sedated into a medically induced coma and placed on ventilator. 

They are now saying that not only is there pnemonia in his lungs but they have used the term ARDS or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.   Basically the breathing machine and the sedation are so that his body and lungs have a chance to rest and recover.  For the last couple of days they have slowly been trying to wean him off of the ventilator and bringing him out of sedation.  He needs to be breathing on his own and fully alert before they can take him off of the ventilator.  We have no idea at this point how long, or even if that will happen.   All we can do is pray.




My trip...
So I am sure that you are wondering about that 2000 mile trip home that I mentioned earlier.  Well, it is about a 5 day trip from our house in North Carolina to my hometown in Saskatchewan.  Certainly not a trip that you can make without a bit of planning - both if travelling by vehicle or by flying. 

The first week or so that my dad was in the hospital was not overly concerning.  Certainly not to the point where I felt I needed to rush home.  Although, for lack of a better description, it really really sucks to be so far away in such a situation.  Then the night that he was put into ICU was the night that I suddenly felt the need to be home.  But it is just not that easy to get home.  Flying is very expensive and driving takes 5 days.  On top of that Sam's passport was expired.  Although I soon learned that if we were travelling by vehicle he could cross the border with only a copy of his birth certificate.

The couple of days after he was sent to ICU were more positive and I made the decision that I would not go home at that point.  Besides the 5 day drive I knew that hubby would have to be away for work for a few days at a time so there were the critters to take care of - two dogs, the new puppy, the cat, and the 19 chickens still in my living room!!!  So with my dad improving I was comfortable not going.  Until the next day when they found pnemonia.  I started to pack and left Monday morning, which was the same day he was put on the ventilator and I was wishing I had left on Saturday when I originally had planned.

Anyway, I was on the road and headed home.  It was an interesting trip but the most amazing was how well the kids did.  Of course there was complaining and fighting over toys, but generally they settled into the routine of driving and making short stops.  The first couple of days I also stopped at Walmart (love GPS) and they each got a new toy, including Leapster and Tag, which made it possible to switch toys throughout the day.  However, the most exciting part of the day for them was stopping at the hotel rooms!

However, it was not a trip without problems! 

Day 1
I was only 10 miles from home when I blew the fuse to plug in the cooler.  So now we had no cooler to keep milk and drinks cold.  Thankfully our van has 2 plugins so I was still able to have the GPS.  Later that day I realized that I had forgotten to bring my debit cards and Canadian credit cards, not a serious problem - just inconvenient and will cost me more in bank fees...sigh...

Day 2
Driving through West Virginia was beautiful and the kids were so excited to see mountains!  They were bouncing in their seats yelling things like "OOOHHH mountains!  OHHH look at that one!  WOW that is the hugest mountain we have ever seen.  Oh Mama this is the bestest adventure ever!"  Hahaha
Then it started to rain and rain and rain.  It rained through the entire state of Ohio and most of Indiana!  Close to the end of the day we were fairly close to Chicago and I wanted to be on the other side of the city so that I did not have to fight traffic in the morning.  Great plan until it the torrential rains started.  Not great driving conditions! I didn't even want to take my hands off the wheel to try to find a hotel, so I just stayed in my lane and drove and tried not to jump to much when the thunder cracked!

Day 3
Wasn't long and we were in Wisconsin and it started to snow.  Our first stop that morning was a bit uncomfortable as I was having to walk through slushy snow in my flip-flops!  I knew where my other shoes were - at the bottom of my suitcase under a bunch of other stuff!  It would take too long to dig them out standing there in snow in my flip-flops - I kept driving!  By the time we got through Minnesota I was wondering where all the flooding was and if we would be in that path.  We did see some flooded fields but there were no road closures and we made it to Grand Forks that night.

Day 4
A few miles into the day and we were detoured off the interstate due to flooding.  The kids kept asking me "Is that the ocean?  Can we go swimming?"  Entire fields were completely under water!  Soon we were at the border crossing and after answering many questions - I can't remember all of them, but here is a sample of the questions he asked me...
"How many are travelling with you?" - my three children
"I need you to open that side door" - ok (so I did)
"Why are you coming to Canada" - Dad is in the hospital
"Where do you live?" - North Carolina
"You are Canadian?" - yes
"Your children are US citizens?" - yes
"Is their father travelling with you?" - no (and I gave him the notarized letter from hubby stating his knowledge and permission for me to travel out of the country with our children - sheesh)
"Who owns this van?" - I do
"Why do you live in North Carolina and have California plates?" - husband is military.  
"Why do only 2 of your children have passports?" - one is expired.
"Where is this one's original birth certificate?"  - with the passport application
"How long are you staying" - I have no idea (which raised his eyebrows and I got quite a look so I quickly added) - it will depend on what happens with my dad.
"Longer than 2 days?" - yes
"Drive safely ma'am"

whew!  We got in!!!  I grabbed my phone to call hubby and friends who were praying that we would get in.  As soon as I crossed into Manitoba I had no cell coverage!  I now had to drive all the way to Saskatchewan before anyone would know that I was actually still driving and not detained at the border!  I did find a payphone to call hubby but who knows what that will cost.

A few hours later I got to Saskatchewan and was able to use my phone again.  And a short time later we  finally arrived at Papa & Mimi's house.  I phoned the hospital to get an update on my dad and then talked to my mom.  Of course she had no idea we were coming - no need for her to worry about us!! So I asked when she would be home and told her that there was a special delivery waiting for her.  She thought I sent flowers or something!  HAHA you can imagine her shock when she walked in to see three little kids saying HI MIMI!!