Sick People

Well, it's been a very long weekend. I received a call at 6:45 Thursday morning from my mom informing me that my dad was in the process of having another heart attack. His was first was 7 years ago. Luckily he was home. He had just returned from a week long trip to Kentucky with a friend of his just Wednesday evening. About 8:30 that evening (Wednesday) he told my mom that he wasn't feeling well, but that he thought it might go away. At midnight, he decided it was time to go to the ER! Sure enough it was another heart attack. He finally made it to a Hot Springs hospital at noon on Thursday. He went straight to his room and around 2:30 they took him in to do a dye test and put a stent in. Afterwards the doctor came in to tell us of his finding. No good news! He said he saw a LOT of disease in his heart. The muscle was basically wore out. Between his diabetes and the damage from the heart disease, his old heart had just about had it! Surgical repair is not an option anymore. No more bypasses, they're done. His injection fraction is 15%. A normal heart is about 60%. That's how much blood your heart can pump with each beat. What I have learned is that if your heart doesn't pump out the correct amount of blood, bad things happen. And by bad, I mean fatal. So it's up to Daddy now. Either he can lose some weight and stick to his diabetic menu, or die now. There is no way to improve his condition, but he can slow down the process! But as Daddy would say, "he's doing tolerably well for a man in his condition." His spirits are up, and I really think he understands how serious this is. He mentioned to my mom that he wasn't in any hurry to leave to the hospital. They are keeping him until they can get all of his medicines regulated, so his heart and diabetic meds will work together and not against each other.

But the day before this happened, my mom's 92 yr old aunt had to be admitted to the hospital for congestive heart failure. My aunt is an old maid, never married, no kids, and my mother is primary caregiver. Luckily she and my dad were in the same hospital, 9 doors between their rooms! My aunt's heart is just give out too! The doctors did not have anything positive to say except that she had a lot of fight in her. And if you know my aunt at all you'll know that we just call it meanness and orneriness. Saturday she reluctantly went to a nursing home for rehab. The lady is scared to death to die, and really scared of dying in a nursing home.

Well, today I was going to go and visit with my dad again, but I ended up having to take my hubby and my oldest to the doctor. He has strep!! Luckily Ky's is just sinus congestion--no strep! Matt has felt bad for several days. He got a shot of penicillin, so maybe he'll perk up pretty soon.

Needless to say, I'm sick of sick people! But I thankful that it's better than the alternative!