Saturday's Update...

Today was a day full of information.  Some good.  Some bad.  Some unsure.

We'll start with the good.  Dad was moved from CCU to a regular room today.  His blood pressure is coming down with the new medication.  He's able to hear VERY well and definitely has regained his sense of humor :)  He even cracked a couple of jokes this afternoon!  He's able to eat, swallow oral medication and he recognized a picture of Alex.

Now the bad.  Today while I was there I noticed several things.  First, he's not seeing as well out of his right eye as I initially thought.  He's had to have a catheter put in.  He's started having hallucinations.  He thought he was covered in ants and was trying to get them off of him.  He thought it was snowing and he was cold and kept "reaching" for his coat.  Mom was sitting next to him beside the bed and he kept reaching over.  When Mom asked him what he was reaching over for he said the table.  There was no table.

Now the unsure.  After reviewing the tests the cardiologist decided that Dad's heart is not healthy enough to endure a stress test.  The next step will be to do a heart cath on Monday.  This will tell them exactly how blocked his arteries near his heart are.  If everything looks good then they'll go ahead and attempt to clear the arteries in the back of his neck via a catheter.  If the tests come back that he has severe blockage, then that will tell us that he's not stable enough for the neck surgery and could possibly need open heart surgery.

Now for the worse...  All day today Dad was relaxed and catnapping and cool as a cucumber.  However just a few minutes ago I got a call from my brother saying that Dad had taken a turn for the worse and become very combative.  So much so that they are having to restrain and sedate him.  We talked with the cardiologist and he initially mentioned doing a stress test but after reviewing test results from the ekg and ct scans they decided he wasn't healthy enough for the stress test.  So the next step is to do a heart cath to see how blocked the arteries around his heart are.  If they are not very blocked then we're clear to proceed with a procedure to operate on his carotid arteries.  Here's a great description of the procedures that may be used: Carotid Artery Surgeries.

That's all for now.  We'll know more Monday.

Love,
E