13 posts tagged “dad update”

As many of you may know by now, my Father's heart failed in the morning of June 8th.  He was transported to the hospital were they tried to resuscitate him with no success.  It's been a rough 48 hours for me and my family.  I've laughed and cried while thinking about him.  Not only was he a great father to me, he was my best friend.  I loved him very much and will continue to do so.  For this upcoming father's day, I plan on posting a tribute to him.  If anyone is interested, below is a link to my father's obituary.  I want to thank everyone for their support these last few months.

Ronald Keith Cochran - April 20, 1937-June 8, 2007

Just a quick update...

The big news is that my Dad has been released from OSU-James earlier this week.  He's been transfered to a local nursing home for the rest of his physical therapy (which in theory should last around three weeks).  Knock on wood...he hasn't had a fever since he's left the hospital.  His biggest issue right now is keeping his CPAP (breathing machine) mask on at night.  He does pretty good during the day with the nasal tubes for his oxygen.  He knows where he is and why and realizes he has some tough physical therapy ahead of him in order to come home soon.    Overall though, he's doing well.  Once he's recovered, there is talks to start his treatment, but as an outpatient.  I have no idea what they are considering to use at the moment.  Hopefully his condition will continue to improve and will be able to come home.  All of us miss him and wish for his rapid return.  As always...Thanks.

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted an update.  This week has been a good one.  They moved my Dad out of ICU Tuesday (the 28th) and into a room in James.  They've also removed the drainage tube from his right lung yesterday!  So far he's been doing great. His vital signs remain stable, but he continues to be on a minimum of oxygen using a nasal tube.  The white blood cell count has been on the high side, however, the Hematologist told us not to worry about it right now.  They're mainly concerned in getting his infection under control.  I've seen him twice since he's been out of ICU and he looks better each time.  He's been eating solid food (usually attacking the desserts first) and has started his physical therapy.  Dad didn't realize how hard it would be to move from his bed to a chair.  I had to remind him that he been in a bed for three weeks.  They have a TV and DVD player in his room.  I've moved up a couple of movies in my Netflix queue that he's been wanting to see.  He's looking forward to that.  While we're not out of the woods yet, he's made tremendous improvements this week.  Hopefully he will keep it up!  Thanks again to all for your calls, e-mails, and comments. 

Things were looking up for my Dad.  He was moved out of ICU yesterday only to be moved back to ICU this morning.  I don't have much information right now.  All I know is that he was not responsive early this morning and his oxygen dropped. They are putting the ventilator back in to help with his breathing.  I'll post an update when more information becomes available.

Mom and I went and saw my Dad last night.  He was more conscious and alert than before.  As stated in the last post, they were able to remove the tube from his throat Saturday morning and he's now breathing on his own.  He's still has an occasional low fever, but seems to be improving.  We were able to talk to him for a little bit and we watched him go through his mouth exercises.  It was fun to watch him stick his tongue out and smile as directed by the therapist.  Dad is making great progress and might be able to move out of ICU soon.  Again, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

The major event of the day was that my Dad was able to breathe on his own for two hours!

• My Dad was able to breath on his own for one hour...they did not go longer so as to not tire him.  By 1 pm they had reduced the ventilator pressure even lower to 5.0.  He was receiving oxygen at 40%; blood gases had improved; heart rate and blood pressure were very good; and his temperature was below 100 again!  His kidney output was very good.  He still has the tubes down his nose and throat and the drainage tube in his chest. 

• Throughout the day, he continued to respond to simple commands and his name.  Mom asked him to squeeze her hand, and he was able to determine which hand she was holding and to take a firm grip.  She was surprised at how strong his grip was!

• The doctor has reduced his morphine and sedative frequency to every 4 hours from every 2 hours.  At 8 pm last night, the nurse told my Mom that he was awake (eyes open, looking around), and she plan to keep him that way for awhile longer until he got too restless.  

Yes...I'm trying to catch up what's been going on this week, so here we go...

• The Big News of the day was that the doctor was able to reduce Ron's oxygen level to 40% and decrease the ventilator pressure from 10 to 7.5.  Yea!  

• Other Good News was that the CT scan did NOT show any encapsulated pockets of infection.  Therefore, no surgery is indicated at this time.  The infection has decreased, and his lungs are getting better.  Yea!  Yea!

• While there is still a little fluid in his right lung, they were going to give he a medication to help remove that.

• The nurse said my Dad knew his name and was able to respond to simple commands.  He is still listed as critical, but vital signs continue to remain stable.  His WBC had dropped to 274,000 so the ups and downs continue...which is to be expected with the leukemia.

• The doctor has taken my Dad off the sedative, and he is beginning to slowly wake up.  He is restless and confused, but was able to respond to my voice and follow my movements.  At one point, Mom asked him if he wanted to go "dancing"....he moved his head back and forth "no."  The doctor was standing at the bottom of his bed and said she believed that was a "definite no!"    They have started him on a medication to calm him and reduce his anxiety, plus morphine for any discomfort.

• His vital signs remain good.  His temperature stayed below 100 during the day on Tuesday, but had risen to 101 last evening.  They have him on a "cooling blanket" which seems to be helping.

• His WBC has elevated again to 284,000 so they have taken more blood samples and also are running more tests on the infection fluid to try to determine what is going on with his WBC.  Mom asked where he needed to be before they would consider treating him for the leukemia...he will need to be off the ventilator and the infection will have to be under control.

• Dad is constantly moving his right hand like he is either reaching for the remote or moving a mouse.  I think he is having internet withdrawal, and we need to put a remote in one hand and a mouse in the other to calm him!