Friday night I came home from work to see joe on the couch muttering something. I thought he was sleeping and just waking up, then had to go over to him and yell at him 5 or 6 times to get him to repeat himself. He handed me the phone told me he couldn't move and had chest pain.
whats folllowed is a nightmare. Ambulance came and took him so fast that I had to yell to them on where they were taking him ( 3 or 4 local hospitals could have been it ).
got to the ER and couldn't even see him as the room was packed. Had to listen to nurses begging for an ICU room as he was critical.
nurse came out to speak with me and said he was severely ketoacidodic and they also needed to put a breathing tube in. They asked me in briefly to see if I could get him to stop struggling. He could only focus on me for seconds at a time and then his eyes would roll back.
the xray techs came with the portable machine but by then the nurses and dr wouldn't let them in to get the pic as his heart rate was extremely abnormal. my view of the room only allowed me to see his lower body.
then I saw his legs start to convulse and the nurse jump on the bed to administer CPR... Joe's father was by the door and saw them plunge the epi needle into his heart. That was the first time... we were all in the chapel when it happened again, the cardiologist told us.
cardiologist was waiting for his team to get there and then and IMMEDIATE balloon angioplasty was done. The artery that feeds the front of the heart was 100% blocked. they have a balloon pump in for 3 days and he's heavily sedated to keep him asleep and not fighting him.. also restrained still.
there was the absolute slightest change yesterday in the right direction with his positive response to a bp med that is keeping his blood pressure at a normal level. When they went thru the surgery his BP was 60/20. they had to fight to keep him alive.
he is still in severely critical condition and may still not make it. However last night i went to say good bye when the sedation was lifting slightly and he responded to me ( still has breathing tube in) and was able to squeeze my hand. hoping its the start of a good recovery.
tomorrow or tuesday they should be taking the balloon pump out and i'm nervous about that as that is whats helping his heart not work as hard so it can recover right now.
please pray... thats whats gotten him so far right now... the heart attack is one of several massive issues (kidneys have shut down right now) and its a miracle he's still fighting
No comments:
Post a Comment