Thursday, December 6, 2007
Speaking to Grandpa---FINALLY!
Posted by Megan
This morning Ian and I were finally able to talk with Grandpa on the phone. I did not get a very big chance though, because Ian was repeatedly chanting "I wanna talk, I wanna talk!" Grandpa wanted to see us, but he told me that the bossy doctors and nurses wouldn't let us come in. I thought that he sounded very good, and it was good to hear him talking. I think that Ian talked to him about his surgery and tubes and things, but I am not positive.
Posted by Ian
It was fun to talk to Grandpa. He's feeling better. I told him I was so happy he's o.k. He said he wants me to be a doctor because it pays well and it can help people. He said he doesn't remember being on the job last week. He said he doesn't remember flying in the helicopter either. He doesn't remember humming when the tubes were pulled out of his chest. I hope he will recover soon. I want him back in time for Christmas so we can play.
Time to go to work...
An update from Barbara this morning regarding Randy.
At three AM today Randy woke up and thought he had to go to work. He started to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. Of course the staff who are always watching him ran in and questioned what he was doing. He said he had to go to the bathroom then needed to go to work. They helped him get up for the bathroom. After that they explained where he was and why. In addition they said if you do this again we will restrain you. You cannot get up in the middle of the night to go to work.
Personally it all seems like normal behavior. He has done work at the U of U and knows he is there. Perhaps he is thinking he is on the job site and slept there to get an early start. We will question him later.
While Randy was up at three Karrie was also up at three but for different reasons. She was NOT going to work but running to the bathroom. Karrie was a casualty from Tyler's Birthday dining of Indian food. Her stomach didn't agree with what she ate and wanted it purged from her body. Because Karrie was up at three I was also given the opportunity to be awake at three. I was witness to how much Karrie does not like Indian food. I can never look at Indian food the same way...
At three AM today Randy woke up and thought he had to go to work. He started to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. Of course the staff who are always watching him ran in and questioned what he was doing. He said he had to go to the bathroom then needed to go to work. They helped him get up for the bathroom. After that they explained where he was and why. In addition they said if you do this again we will restrain you. You cannot get up in the middle of the night to go to work.
Personally it all seems like normal behavior. He has done work at the U of U and knows he is there. Perhaps he is thinking he is on the job site and slept there to get an early start. We will question him later.
While Randy was up at three Karrie was also up at three but for different reasons. She was NOT going to work but running to the bathroom. Karrie was a casualty from Tyler's Birthday dining of Indian food. Her stomach didn't agree with what she ate and wanted it purged from her body. Because Karrie was up at three I was also given the opportunity to be awake at three. I was witness to how much Karrie does not like Indian food. I can never look at Indian food the same way...
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
It's also Tyler's birthday!
I arrived at the hospital after the nurses had confiscated *both* of Randy's blankets. Since certain visitors had added the second blanket, it was decided that we couldn't be trusted. Poor Dad, cold and uncomfortable. His actual requests were "a blanket and a pint of blood." Kevin put it into his head that a pint of blood would make everything all better. No one would listen to his requests, and Dad threatened to "walk out of here." When Barbara reminded him that he wouldn't make it to the door, he said that he would crawl. Right about then, a team of psychiatrists showed up to do a regular consult. They commiserated with him about the cold, the head of the team noting that he personally could go home and have as many blankets as he wanted, so it truly wasn't fair. He did unfold a napkin for Dad to put on his knees.
Once all the mean blanket-refusing people had left, a nurse finally granted reprieve with one blanket, and Dad curled up and took a nap. While he was sleeping, Karen Taylor stopped by and offered to bring Dad some good soup once he was home. He woke up in a better mood, and was able to talk to my husband Mike on the phone. Mike is in his last year of residency in anesthesiology, and has been doing a lot of similar cardiac surgeries lately, so he was able to give Dad lots of gritty and gory details about his condition and surgery. I don't know exactly what he said, but afterwards Dad was once again grateful to be alive, blankets or not.
Soon, Dad was given dinner of chicken and rice and asparagus, which he declared to be the most delicious meal yet at the hospital. Which isn't saying much. He was chowing down when the nurse remembered that his glucose hadn't been checked yet, so Dad obediently spit out a bite of roll. He doesn't want his sugar levels too high or else he gets insulin, and insulin is on the list of things Dad doesn't like. One prick of the finger didn't work, because the callous on his finger was too thick. "That's my guitar finger," said Dad. "Try this other one, on the side." After passing the blood sugar test, Dad was told that they would stop testing his sugar levels because he had passed so many, so the threat of insulin is gone. Yet another minor victory!
Afterwards, the members of the family who were not confined to a hospital bed went to Bombay House to celebrate Tyler's 30th birthday. We had the back room to ourselves so Scott could chase Erin around and around without bothering other diners. Tyler's best present is having a living father. We told Dad it's a good thing he didn't die, or he would have ruined Tyler's birthday forever, and we wouldn't want that.
Once all the mean blanket-refusing people had left, a nurse finally granted reprieve with one blanket, and Dad curled up and took a nap. While he was sleeping, Karen Taylor stopped by and offered to bring Dad some good soup once he was home. He woke up in a better mood, and was able to talk to my husband Mike on the phone. Mike is in his last year of residency in anesthesiology, and has been doing a lot of similar cardiac surgeries lately, so he was able to give Dad lots of gritty and gory details about his condition and surgery. I don't know exactly what he said, but afterwards Dad was once again grateful to be alive, blankets or not.
Soon, Dad was given dinner of chicken and rice and asparagus, which he declared to be the most delicious meal yet at the hospital. Which isn't saying much. He was chowing down when the nurse remembered that his glucose hadn't been checked yet, so Dad obediently spit out a bite of roll. He doesn't want his sugar levels too high or else he gets insulin, and insulin is on the list of things Dad doesn't like. One prick of the finger didn't work, because the callous on his finger was too thick. "That's my guitar finger," said Dad. "Try this other one, on the side." After passing the blood sugar test, Dad was told that they would stop testing his sugar levels because he had passed so many, so the threat of insulin is gone. Yet another minor victory!
Afterwards, the members of the family who were not confined to a hospital bed went to Bombay House to celebrate Tyler's 30th birthday. We had the back room to ourselves so Scott could chase Erin around and around without bothering other diners. Tyler's best present is having a living father. We told Dad it's a good thing he didn't die, or he would have ruined Tyler's birthday forever, and we wouldn't want that.
Lunchtime update
Posted by Kevin
Randy has a new hairdo today--the first time we have seen him with a mohawk! (Note to Barbara Hansen: keep this in mind for his next haircut.)
I looked at the 4 AM EKG output with the nurse. I'm not very good at reading them. . . there was a severe S-T depression, the P-wave was not visible, and there was a U wave. He did not have any fibrillation, just some electrical irregularity that lasted about 20 or 30 minutes. It was not clear what caused it. I have not heard anything about the echocardiogram results (an echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart).
Randy has been weak and tired, but his mind is clear. He has not stood up at all today but he is not as dizzy as yesterday. His hematocrit is low (31), but they said it is stable so they are not going to give him a transfusion.
The nurse took his temperature, which was a bit high (about 101), so she took off his second blanket and said he had to cool down. Since then he has been asking everyone who comes in to please hand him his second blanket--Barbara and Karrie finally gave in to his pleadings.
April brought in homemade applesauce, spaghetti, and peaches, which Randy has enjoyed, but he has not eaten very much.
P.S. Barbara says that since Randy can now remember his visitors we are not going to keep a running list of all the people coming for a visit. Also, even though the doctors suggested he may be home as soon as Thursday, he will NOT be coming home tomorrow. We have not heard any more about moving him from Intermediate Care, and he has to be more mobile and stable on his feet before he gets to go home.
Randy has a new hairdo today--the first time we have seen him with a mohawk! (Note to Barbara Hansen: keep this in mind for his next haircut.)I looked at the 4 AM EKG output with the nurse. I'm not very good at reading them. . . there was a severe S-T depression, the P-wave was not visible, and there was a U wave. He did not have any fibrillation, just some electrical irregularity that lasted about 20 or 30 minutes. It was not clear what caused it. I have not heard anything about the echocardiogram results (an echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart).
Randy has been weak and tired, but his mind is clear. He has not stood up at all today but he is not as dizzy as yesterday. His hematocrit is low (31), but they said it is stable so they are not going to give him a transfusion.
The nurse took his temperature, which was a bit high (about 101), so she took off his second blanket and said he had to cool down. Since then he has been asking everyone who comes in to please hand him his second blanket--Barbara and Karrie finally gave in to his pleadings.
April brought in homemade applesauce, spaghetti, and peaches, which Randy has enjoyed, but he has not eaten very much.
P.S. Barbara says that since Randy can now remember his visitors we are not going to keep a running list of all the people coming for a visit. Also, even though the doctors suggested he may be home as soon as Thursday, he will NOT be coming home tomorrow. We have not heard any more about moving him from Intermediate Care, and he has to be more mobile and stable on his feet before he gets to go home.
Minor setback
After many days of remarkable recovery and improvement, Randy had a little setback last night. Around 4 this morning his heart started having some arrhythmia again- the first day out of surgery he was on medicine to help control this, but he's been off it for several days. They have taken an echocardiogram to check things out.
The doctors say that it is nothing to be too concerned about at this point and that it may be related to them pulling the drainage tubes yesterday.
I will update as soon I hear anything more.
The doctors say that it is nothing to be too concerned about at this point and that it may be related to them pulling the drainage tubes yesterday.
I will update as soon I hear anything more.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Notes from Randy
Barbara thought she had better go to the office for a minute today, and of course there is a backlog of work so she ended up staying several hours. When she visited Randy this evening he told her that the doctor and anesthesiologist had visited him earlier. The doctor said if the anesthesiologist had not prepared Randy quickly for the surgery by cooling his heart and brain to 45 degrees the operation would not have been nearly as successful.
In other news Randy says he is not in any pain, and he is enjoying food, but "the hospital meatloaf makes me sick." (Personally just hearing "hospital meatloaf" makes me sick!) Tonight’s visitors included Helga, Tom and Joyce, Cory and Sandy Cummings, Paul and Kelly Hicken, Richard and Lenore Anderson. Tomorrow they may move him to yet another room, this time out of intermediate care.
When asked if he had a message for the blog readers he said, “I’m happy to be here and I’m thankful for everyone’s prayers and faith on my behalf.”
Music To Our Ears
This morning Matt helped Barbara set-up the MP3 player that was so kindly dropped off by one of Randy's band mates. He had pre-loaded the player with the band's own album. Barbara put the headphones on Randy and the first thing he said was , "Hey, our band sounds pretty good!" Soon he was in his own world singing along to the music. The rest of us couldn't hear the music, but it seem he was in tune, despite the hoarse voice.
Not much later, Matt, Karrie and Andrea got kicked out of the room by a nurse because David had shown up and the nurse felt that 5 groupies were too many when only 2 visitors are allowed at a time.
And so the music plays on...
Matt & Karrie
Not much later, Matt, Karrie and Andrea got kicked out of the room by a nurse because David had shown up and the nurse felt that 5 groupies were too many when only 2 visitors are allowed at a time.
And so the music plays on...
Matt & Karrie
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