On Monday the 16th we received a call from Dr. Garg's office around noon and requested that we come in to go over Pop's CT scan at 2. It worked out fine because we had an appointment out there at 3:30 for a Cystoscopy.
We arrived to our 2 o'clock appointment and of course we waited for almost 45 minutes. The whole time Pops would say, "Why in the h*** would they call us to come out at 2 and then we have to wait." He makes me laugh.
It wasn't an appointment that we wanted to have especially during the holidays. In 2009 Pops had an an aneurysm and had a stent put in.
Well his aneurysm has grown and his stent halfway in his abdomen and pelvis area had come apart. The Dr said if we don't admit him in the hospital immediately it can burst any minute and kill him. So we went to his 3:30 appointment and then crossed the street to be admitted into the hospital. After walking all over the hospital being sent in a million directions we finally were taken up to the 4th floor to TCU. He had a chest x-ray and another CT scan done so that Dr. Garg knew exactly what he was working with. Surgery was going to have to be postponed until Tuesday. Well, Tuesday came around and was told that Dr. Garg had to order the largest stent you can get because the hospital didn't have one and that would be in on Weds. This large stent would prevent this from ever happening again. So surgery was postponed yet again.
In the meantime 2 gentlemen from our church came to the hospital to give Pops a blessing. He at first was not interested because he said that when he lost both his brothers he gave up all hope and faith in religion and God. But after some talking and convincing from Grandma (more like telling him) he received a beautiful blessing from Bryan.
Weds was here and it was the day of surgery. Dr. Garg came up and discussed everything about Pop's surgery. He said that he is putting him under local anesthesia because of his age too many health risks to put him fully under. His surgery was at 2 PM. An hr before he was taken down he was laying in his hospital bed and signaled with his hand for me to come over to him. I came and sat by his bedside and he started to cry. He talked as if he was dying and what he wanted for his family. Needless to say it was an extremely emotional time. My grandma was beside herself and by her reaction you would have thought Pop's was dying.
Thoughts kept running in my mind like, does he know how much I love him, does he know that he is my buddy, does he know how grateful I am for him, does he know how much he has blessed me and my life? All these thoughts kept consuming my mind and made my heart ache. I knew that all was going to be okay but you still always know that there could be some risks.
Surgery ended and as we hoped surgery went extremely well. When Dr. Garg came out to update us my grandma jumped up and hugged him. We went up to his room and waited until they wheeled him back into his room. After an hour of waiting he was back in his room and was sound asleep. We kissed him and went home.
The next morning my mom and grandma went up early to see him. He woke up around 9:30 A.M. in pain and was given Nor-co. He was then transferred down to the third floor around 11:30, where he slept for over 15 hours. He was not waking up and was worrying us all even Dr. Garg. Dr. Garg asked if we wanted to reverse the pain meds which can cause more pain to him and possible health risks. We did not want to that so Dr. Garg wanted to wait until the morning to see if there are any improvements and if not he would sch a CT scan to check his brain.
He woke up a little bit for about 10 mins but was really confused and didn't know who any of us were. It was extremely hard especially on my grandma. We went home with a heavy heart and prayed all the way home and into the night for him. Friday came and not much had changed. He was still very confused and was sleeping a lot. One minute he would know who we were and the next minute he wouldn't have a clue. It was so hard and even harder on grandma when he didn't even know who she was. Dr. Garg ordered a CT scan and when we got his results back, there was nothing our of the norm. Few spots of dementia showed but that was normal. Dr is afraid that maybe the surgery brought his dementia out more but really this type of condition is called organic which means, there is no explanation to what is going on when all vitals and signs are good. Only time would tell. My mom took grandma home and Bryan and I stayed with him and we got him up to play Rummy but that only lasted about 3 plays then he fell back asleep.
Saturday came and he was improving. His appetite was coming back and he wanted to go home. He was so upset they wouldn't let him leave. He still was very confused and that still was scary. Dr. Garg came in and he asked if we wanted to put Pop's in a rehab facility or take him home. Grandma really wanted to bring him home because she felt that maybe being home will help jog his memory. Dr. Garg agreed and said that if we decide it's too hard that we can have his primary Dr. request the move to the rehab facility. Pops knew that if he got up to walk they would send him home. So he was demanding to get up to walk but the nurses told him he needed to wait for the physical therapist. Finally the physical therapist showed up after many attempts of Pop's trying to get up and walk and was allowed to walk. He was given a walker and once he was given the okay to walk he was moving. I was walking so fast. I have never ever seen him walk that fast but he was determined to get out.
We expected that the physical therapist would say that he needs to be in a rehab facility but as we previously discussed with Dr. Garg, grandma wanted Pop's home. The physical therapist gave us at home tips and told us that a physical therapist would be coming to our home once or twice a week to do some physical therapy. Dr. Garg made sure that the PCC nurse would get us set up with the equipment that we would need at home to help Pop's and could be delivered the same day.
We finally made it home after a quick stop at McDonald's to get Pop's a strawberry shake. Got him all settled and tried to go to bed early. Our first night home was a rough night but that was expected. He was talking in his sleep a lot and trying to get up to urinate and forgot that he had a catheter in. We knew that it would take time to get better and get him back on a sleeping schedule. His first day home was a big improvement and he is really trying to make an effort to get better.
XO {ST}
