Late Saturday/Early Sunday Update. . .

On Saturday, we moved Travis from ICU back to the Ortho/Neuro floor of the hospital in one of the rooms closest to the nurses' station. For approximately 2 hours in the afternoon, all was calm and everyone rested a bit. Unfortunately, the doctor on call for the weekend decided to change his pain management medications after we had struggled this week to get him stable. Why do these guys do such foolish things, especially when dealing with dementia patients?! Carolyn and I made a quick run to my house to deliver dirty laundry and pick up some things she had previously left there for Father's Day. Late afternoon, he began shaking violently and cried that the machine (CPM -- continuous passive movement) was "getting him" and for us to help him and get it off. We turned the machine off and nurse gave him some Xanax to calm him. One of the changes made by the weekend doc was to extend the length of time for the pain med (Darvocet) from 4 to 6 hours which does not hold the pain, and he also added a muscle relaxer.

After a bite of dinner for me in the cafeteria, I made a run to Wal-Mart to pick up some things for Carolyn and work on laundry. While exiting Wal-Mart, Carolyn called and asked that I return to the hospital ASAP. As I returned to his room, he was having great difficulty talking which upset him because he knew what he wanted to say but could not speak it. After a while, he calmed down and bit and Carolyn went for dinner (10:15 pm). In the meantime, my dad began complaining of chest pains again and still had trouble speaking. I had the nurse come in and he added oxygen, checked his pulse, etc. My dad's heart rate began dropping again and his blood pressure up. Next, he complained of intense leg pain.

Just before Carolyn returned, he settled down again. As I began to leave around 11:20 or so the nurse called the "on-call" doc who further drew out the pain medication! Go figure this one when the nurse told him that he was having breakthroughs! We'll see come the morning. Carolyn in staying the night while I take care of laundry and get a bit of sleep.

Laundry calls. . .