How many of you out there have aged parents with health problems? As I have mentioned many times before my mom has recurrent thyroid cancer that she has received surgeries and treatments for off and on for the past 14 years. She is all good at the moment. My dad on the other hand has had issues with blood clots all my adult life. He lost his leg when I was 17 and a few years ago he started having TIA episodes which is a precursor to a stroke. For most of the past couple of years my mother has not been very pleased with my dad's doctor. The doctor had only been checking the consistency of his blood every three months (because dad is on a strong dose of blood thinners) instead of the recommended monthly checks. Well because of all this my dad started bleeding internally because his blood is too thin. I had no idea that this could happen. He has been in the hospital since Thursday night receiving blood transfusions, platelets, ultrasounds, and CT scans. Currently they believe the bleeding is coming from his gall bladder and liver. Surprisingly he is in good spirits and less pain. When you have blood seeping into your belly and thighs it is very painful. Painful enough to be screaming out and crying. My dad will see his vascular surgeon today and hopefully have a course of action planned with the possibility of surgery. The hospital is about an hour away and my mother drives back and forth each day. She is older now and tiring from the added strain of sitting at the hospital, not knowing when he will be better, and traveling back and forth to the hospital.
To make matters even busier, my niece had her bridal shower on Saturday and mom didn't get to go. Then yesterday at church a possible new pastor came to preach. I feel like I haven't really sat down and relaxed in about five days. Today and tomorrow will be just as busy - waiting to hear word about dad, teaching four classes at the cooperative tomorrow and today me and Grace are supposed to attend a new small group from another church for homeschool families.
Thanks for letting me vent. Talk to you all again soon.
UPDATE: This afternoon my mom called from the hospital. Evidently they cultured his blood, which takes a few days to get results, and it came back as E. Coli as the infection in his bloodstream. Now he has been switched to a high potent antibiotic and will be on it for a while. Plus they have decided not to restart his Coumadin and send him to a hematologist to figure out what medication to put him on to keep his blood thin but not too thin.
1 comment:
That is a lot to handle. You are in my thoughts.
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