Tonight, my dad is in the hospital. It seems that Dad's heart is/was beating irregularly and his blood pressure was low, which could be due to an infection (although they don't definitively know where that is). He is in the Pulmonary/Carido Unit (PCU) Intensive Care Unit overnight so they can monitor his heart rate and blood pressure.
He has my former doctor, Dr. Aziz overnight and his own regular doctor, Dr. Wood, will be at the hospital tomorrow to attend to him. Dr. Aziz used the term "heart failure" and explained what he meant by saying that the all chambers of the heart are not beating as well as they should but that it is something that can be corrected. It could be that there is some minimal blockage, like a small clogged artery or a small clot. Dad is going to get some Lovonox (Heprin shots in the belly, which I had) to prevent clotting and he also has had some IV drips to help fight the infection.
I do not mean to sound like I'm downplaying anything but none of the doctors or nurses in the ER were rushing around, treating anything like a life or death situation and Dr. Aziz seems very confident that this will be cleared up and treated after a few days and a few other tests; including probably a stress test, but Dr. Wood will make that decision.
Dad assured us that he has no chest pain, no shortness of breath and no discomfort, other than what he thought was a bladder or kidney infection, which is why he went to the ER in the first place. I realize I am my father's daughter again and again and again. He's bored and impatient. He said it would be much easier to "take" if he was in some discomfort. We laughed about him trying to one-up me.
I'm anxious to have my own blood work done in the morning and to stop in and see him. I'm feeling so much better and am managing the pain without taking the major drugs. I also have therapy tomorrow and I can't wait. I feel like I'm processing so much, so much. It's been three weeks and I am sorely overdue. The end of the school year, the end of that chapter, the pulmonary emboli and how those symptoms are so similar to the anxiety and stress, the hospitalization--mine and Dad's, and how to progress from here, Sue moving and other people coming into and going out of my life. It is a lot. I need to talk and get perspective on it. I need to process and think and have some structure to my thinking instead of the thoughts just chasing themselves around and around.
What if this is as good as it gets?
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