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February 2008 - Dad is Seriously Ill...

26th February 2008:
Really pushed for time again as I’m going to the hospital at 11.30 and need to be ready soon.

Dads situation is this; he has end stage renal failure and has just started dialysis. He was due to have dialysis on Monday 18th but when I visited him on the 17th he was so unwell with shoulder and back pain (at the site of his catheter) that I called the doctor. Dad went to hospital that night and got dialysis on the 18th. They discovered then that he’d gotten MRSA from the catheter when it was put in his chest previously (maybe a week before). He also suffered a minor heart attack during his dialysis on Monday (18th February) although I feel that he may have had one prior to my seeing him on Sunday.

On Monday 18th the Doctor at the High Dependency Unit spelled it out to me that dad has a lot of challenges and, at 78, had been through a lot physically for the current situation his body was facing. The Doctor told me that the next few days were critical in seeing how dad would repond to the MRSA treatment and how his heart would fare following the heart attack. I found myself discussing how my dad’s final moments would be and how they would make him comfortable if the worst came to the worst, and what I should do as his son and expect to happen. It was a terrible and surrealistic conversation to have. Dad was completely out of it, attached to bleeping machines and a hissing mask. he was barely conscious - but aware of me being there. I held his hand and talked to him.

To be continued. I have to get moving now...

22nd February 2008:
I’m updating the web site now because its running out of bandwidth. Will add more details later. My father is in hospital and has a lot of challenges right now, one of those being a staph infection he’s picked up during the preparation for his dialysis.

The doctor has laid it on the line for me that the next couple of days will be critical for my father. He’s very weak, but he’s a strong man inside. I don’t think he knows how sick he really is. The Doctor seemed to have a mind to tell him, but I’m not sure it would be the right thing to do.

More details will follow...