Got "the call" that my brother and I have been dreading.
My father (77 years old last month) had emergency surgery to repair a hole in his duodenum. It started when he awoke 4 AM Sunday in pain and decided to drive himself to the hospital. A neighbor looked out his window to the apartment's parking lot and saw Dad staggering to his SUV in his pajamas and hustled down to give him a ride. Dad was in surgery a few minutes after they arrived at the ER and is recovering. He has a feeding tube down his nose and a bunch of plumbing around his midsection but so far no complications. He sounded groggy on the phone but in typical "Iron Man" fashion said that his morale was high and he was ready to bust out of there.
I offered the floor nurse the medical history that they hadn't been able to get from him yet. They must've seen something in his blood tests because they had a number of pointed questions that make me think we're all in for more unpleasant news later this week. So I shared my concern with the nurse about his symptoms of vascular dementia that we'd observed over a year ago. The "good" news is that this time he doesn't have any choice about whether or not to be evaluated by a doctor.
My brother and I saw the warning signs over a year ago and have picked out a couple geriatric care coordinators and a couple care facilities. If he's still considered capable of independent living then a local Hawaii company can also help us wire up his apartment for home care (
iHealthHome System) along with grocery delivery, a cleaning service, and perhaps a visiting aide or nurse. I guess I'm also going to get a heckuva lesson on Medicare & LTC insurance procedures.
I'm flying to the Mainland on the Wednesday redeye, I'll see Dad in the hospital after lunch on Thursday, and then we'll start all of the discussions.
The biopsy report is supposed to come back Wednesday. This Friday or next Monday they'll be ready to turn him over to a rehab facility to finish his recovery. Hopefully by the time the surgery scar is healed and the feeding tube is out we'll have arrived at an understanding of his next step.
Dad was widowed 25 years ago and he's pretty much kept to himself over the years. My brother and I visited for a couple days in late 2009 (when we observed the dementia symptoms) and we've stayed in touch with letters & phone calls, but we've had only a couple handwritten notes from him since then. I have no idea what I'm walking into at the hospital or his apartment.
I think I'll be able to keep the blog going on schedule (I find the writing process is very therapeutic) but I won't be on this board much. I've made plane reservations for two weeks but I really have no clue how long I'll be staying with him.