Onto the next stage...
I got a call at 7am this morning (well on Monday morning), that dad was moved to the Palliative/Comfort care area of the hospital.
I went to go see him after work and spent a few hours with him. About 6 of his co-workers came during the time I was there, which was really nice. Ariana came by for a little while as well.
However, before anyone else arrived I had a meeting with his new doctor. She was a very nice woman, who really seemed to empathize with our situation.
She began by explaining that she spent a good amount of time with my dad in the morning when he was transferred. And at one point, two of his co-workers who he is also very good friends with came by to visit. So the doctor and the 2 co-workers spoke with my dad for awhile. This was before they put him on the morphine and apparently my dad was being quite responsive. The doctor decided to try some basic tests on him, to see exactly how responsive he was and it worked out well. They were talking to him and he was responding with blinks and by squeezing their hands.
So the doctor decided to talk to my dad about his situation and with his co-workers as witnesses she asked my dad to respond with blinks and asked him if he would want to be “let go” or continue in his current condition and he responded with a no (well in terms of blinks) that he doesn’t want to be in his condition anymore.
The doctor continued to tell me, that she believes that he is making a little progress since the neuro tests that were performed just over a week ago, so she called the neurologists back in for a consultation. But in the end, they agreed that he still probably would not regain cerebral function. The female doctor said that POSSIBLY with very aggressive rehab, dad might be able to be more responsive. What that entails is hard to say though. She said if he had the “drive’ she would suggest it, but that after meeting with him and observing him, she feels he has no drive to want to try and get better. She said that he also seems depressed.
I explained that I could figure why, b/c he was alone in Hartford for so long, I can only imagine him feeling depressed. So hearing that was a bit heart-wrenching. However, at least hearing from my doctor about the conversation she had with dad confirms that we are making the right decision about what to do with him- no matter how painful it may be.
And as I stated, the rest of the visit went well. He had a lot of visitors, and even though he was doped up on morphine for most of the time, he was fairly responsive with me as well. As everytime I asked him to squeeze my hand, he would actually do it, so that was a good feeling.
I also brought him my radio and left it on the spanish station, so he could listen to his salsa, merengue and reggaeton (which I know he loves). So hopefully that will put him in better spirits.
Now we just have to deal with the final step- ‘extubating’ dad (basically taking him off the ventillator). The doctor said she will be at the hospital til noon tomorrow, so I could do it before then. I could also do it afterwards if I wanted, but it would have to be done by another doctor. So she offered that I could wait til Wednesday til she returned so she could be the doctor around for anything that happened.
So I’m figuring to wait til Wednesday. However, I'm gonna see if I can do it at night b/c we have the meeting with the co-op board on Wed at 6:30pm and we can't really postpone it cuz that would throw everything off. So I’m hoping they’ll let me do it around 8pm or so on Wed night. I’ll have to say a prayer about that one. But hopefully they’ll accommodate me, as the doctor did say she felt it was important for me and family to be with dad when he is taken off the machine.
And then I’ll probably spend the night at the hospital on Wednesday night til Thursday, take Thursday and Friday off work and hang around the hospital to wait to see what happens.
So yeah, wish us luck with the co-op board meeting and say a prayer for me and the family, as I know these next few days are going to be rough. Especially b/c the doctor is guessing that my dad probably won’t pass away immediately. She says he has the ability to stick around for a bit, so this may be a prolonged thing. In a way I hope he lasts til after Saturday b/c that’s Ariana’s graduation and I really want her to be able to enjoy it, b/c she worked so hard for it. Our own undergrad ceremony was ruined by terrible weather, so I am hoping this one will make up for it and not have a air of sadness attached to it. But we shall see... God has a plan for everything, even if we can’t make any sense of it as things are happening.
I went to go see him after work and spent a few hours with him. About 6 of his co-workers came during the time I was there, which was really nice. Ariana came by for a little while as well.
However, before anyone else arrived I had a meeting with his new doctor. She was a very nice woman, who really seemed to empathize with our situation.
She began by explaining that she spent a good amount of time with my dad in the morning when he was transferred. And at one point, two of his co-workers who he is also very good friends with came by to visit. So the doctor and the 2 co-workers spoke with my dad for awhile. This was before they put him on the morphine and apparently my dad was being quite responsive. The doctor decided to try some basic tests on him, to see exactly how responsive he was and it worked out well. They were talking to him and he was responding with blinks and by squeezing their hands.
So the doctor decided to talk to my dad about his situation and with his co-workers as witnesses she asked my dad to respond with blinks and asked him if he would want to be “let go” or continue in his current condition and he responded with a no (well in terms of blinks) that he doesn’t want to be in his condition anymore.
The doctor continued to tell me, that she believes that he is making a little progress since the neuro tests that were performed just over a week ago, so she called the neurologists back in for a consultation. But in the end, they agreed that he still probably would not regain cerebral function. The female doctor said that POSSIBLY with very aggressive rehab, dad might be able to be more responsive. What that entails is hard to say though. She said if he had the “drive’ she would suggest it, but that after meeting with him and observing him, she feels he has no drive to want to try and get better. She said that he also seems depressed.
I explained that I could figure why, b/c he was alone in Hartford for so long, I can only imagine him feeling depressed. So hearing that was a bit heart-wrenching. However, at least hearing from my doctor about the conversation she had with dad confirms that we are making the right decision about what to do with him- no matter how painful it may be.
And as I stated, the rest of the visit went well. He had a lot of visitors, and even though he was doped up on morphine for most of the time, he was fairly responsive with me as well. As everytime I asked him to squeeze my hand, he would actually do it, so that was a good feeling.
I also brought him my radio and left it on the spanish station, so he could listen to his salsa, merengue and reggaeton (which I know he loves). So hopefully that will put him in better spirits.
Now we just have to deal with the final step- ‘extubating’ dad (basically taking him off the ventillator). The doctor said she will be at the hospital til noon tomorrow, so I could do it before then. I could also do it afterwards if I wanted, but it would have to be done by another doctor. So she offered that I could wait til Wednesday til she returned so she could be the doctor around for anything that happened.
So I’m figuring to wait til Wednesday. However, I'm gonna see if I can do it at night b/c we have the meeting with the co-op board on Wed at 6:30pm and we can't really postpone it cuz that would throw everything off. So I’m hoping they’ll let me do it around 8pm or so on Wed night. I’ll have to say a prayer about that one. But hopefully they’ll accommodate me, as the doctor did say she felt it was important for me and family to be with dad when he is taken off the machine.
And then I’ll probably spend the night at the hospital on Wednesday night til Thursday, take Thursday and Friday off work and hang around the hospital to wait to see what happens.
So yeah, wish us luck with the co-op board meeting and say a prayer for me and the family, as I know these next few days are going to be rough. Especially b/c the doctor is guessing that my dad probably won’t pass away immediately. She says he has the ability to stick around for a bit, so this may be a prolonged thing. In a way I hope he lasts til after Saturday b/c that’s Ariana’s graduation and I really want her to be able to enjoy it, b/c she worked so hard for it. Our own undergrad ceremony was ruined by terrible weather, so I am hoping this one will make up for it and not have a air of sadness attached to it. But we shall see... God has a plan for everything, even if we can’t make any sense of it as things are happening.
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