Wednesday, January 19

After Dad's heart rate stabilized on Monday afternoon/evening, it shot up again that night, shortly after I left around 9:00 p.m. Mom was there when it happened and ended up staying the night with him. He was miserable all night--the nausea and pain continued and his heart rate was around 180 bpm for much of the night. In the wee hours of the morning, they suctioned out his stomach again and his heart rate went down to a normal level. Finally on Tuesday, midday, they discovered that all the fibrillation was happening because a medication he had been on since his heart surgery to help regulate blood pressure and rhythm had unintentionally been stopped after his GI tube surgery on Sunday. Apparently the doctor had to give orders to reinstate medications after surgery and he simply forgot that one. Frankly, I'm livid about this--how on earth do you forget a heart patient's heart medication? But once they started him on it, his heart went back to normal and has been strong and steady since then. The pain from the GI tube surgery is lessening gradually. Today he's feeling pretty good and there is talk about moving him out of CCU and back to the 6th floor. His digestion still hasn't picked up, though, although the doctors say that there doesn't seem to be any obstruction--it's just being slow. But because of that, Dad still feels sick and isn't getting any real nutrition. I'm hoping that clears up shortly so he can go back to the business of recovering from everything else!