In order to keep family and friends informed about my Dad's health, I thought if would be beneficial to post updates to my blog. I want to start off by saying that I really appreciate all of your prayers and thoughts, they seem to be working. Yesterday, when Dad was admitted to the hospital, I spoke with him and he was really out of it. He was on a nitroglycerin patch, which gives him a terrible headache. To combat the headache, they gave him narcotics, which make him nauseous. When we spoke in the morning, he was drugged, sore, and emotional. By 7:00 p.m., he was more alert and no longer on the nitro or narcotics. This morning, he was talkative and watching the History Channel and reading the newspaper. A good sign...
I'll start by telling you some of my dad's history. In 1993, my dad had open heart surgery, at the age of 41. He had several blockages, one of which was at 90%. He was in the hospital for four nights, following his surgery, and then went home to recuperate. Since his surgery, he's been hospitalized several times for "maintenance." There is one artery in particular that I'm aware of, which keeps collapsing. He's had multiple stents inserted to keep it open.
On Wednesday night Dad began having chest pains, so his girlfriend, Julie, took him to the emergency room. I've been told he didn't do well on a stress test, but his blood work came out okay. He is scheduled for tests today so that they can see exactly what is going on. The cardiologist needs to see what the extent of damage is to that one artery in particular. With a build-up of scar tissue and multiple stents, it might be necessary to perform another open heart surgery to repair the damage.
So that's where we are this morning. We are essentially waiting for word. I spoke with Dad and Julie, just an hour ago, and have been assured I will hear from them as soon as his test. In the event that Dad has to have open heart surgery again, I will be flying out to Billings. I'll keep you all updated...
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