August Hospital Stay

So we're back in the hospital again. I have no idea where to even start so I guess I'll just start at the beginning, that usually seems to work.

Late Wednesday night (the 17th), Mom noticed Dad staring off at the fireplace in the living room and seemed very dazed and didn't really answer questions, other than an occasional yes or no. He said he knew who Mom was but couldn't remember her name or his name. Mom called an ambulance and while she was waiting for them, she called me. I was down in Springfield, MO for a fishing trip with my boyfriend and once she said the ambulance was there, Jim and I packed up our bags real quick and started the drive home. Dad was transported to Barnes Jewish in St. Peters and was still there by the time we got up there, around 2:45am on Thursday morning. They did a CT scan and blood work which all came back looking normal. At that point, they felt like he was pretty stable and decided to make the transfer to Big Barnes, once they had a room ready for him. He was transported to Barnes St. Louis between 5:30-6:30 am Thursday morning.

By the time Mom and I got to the hospital, he was in a room in a part of the hospital we didn't even have patient rooms! Any other time he's been in the hospital, he's been on the south campus so naturally, that's where we went. Turns out they had him on the north campus, which is the same building he's gotten treatments and radiation in. He's even on the same floor where his doctors offices are, just on the other half! Mom and I had a nice 25 minute walk from one campus to the other.

Thursday morning he had an EEG which monitors brain activity. The test lasts about 20 minutes and records brain activity while the technician notes what he's doing physically. Those results came back fairly normal, which means during the time they were recording, he did not have any seizures. However, this only provides a snapshot of what's going on right at that moment, and doesn't give much information as to what might have happened in the past. They were able to rule out a stroke, based on his eye movements and a couple other things.

He didn't really eat much yesterday but we were able to feed him a couple bites of mashed potatoes and some orange sherbet. Later yesterday afternoon, he said he NEEDED some orange sherbet and ate another container of it. He also ate some Thrive, which is basically ice cream with protein and nutrients added to it. Around dinner time, we asked him if he'd like a strawberry Ensure drink and while he didn't say yes or no, I put the straw up to his lips and he drank the whole thing.

It's really hard to explain what Dad is like right now but I'll do the best I can. He is laying in a bed and tends to lean to the right, which seems to be a little bit better today. He'll look at you for a short amount of time, then he'll go and stare off into the corner or at the ceiling and not respond to any questions. During a neurology exam, they were yelling his name, pinching him, hitting him on the chest trying to get him to answer a question. Then out of nowhere, he'll answer a question or make a statement and he's back for just a couple minutes but then he's gone again. He has made several jokes over the past day or two but he really doesn't have a conversation. Even when he's off in his own world, the doctors have asked him to squeeze their hands and he'll do that.

At this point, they're testing for several things. He did have an MRI this morning, which we haven't gotten the official results but the doctor did say they look comparable to the MRI he had last Monday. Dr. Ansstas (his medical oncologist) was in this morning and said that he doesn't believe whatever is going on right now is caused from the necrosis that he's had. With how well he's been doing and no real change on the MRI, it doesn't make sense for that to be the cause. If there's anything different in the official results, Dr. Ansstas will let us know.

They put in a PIC line this morning, which is a different type of IV. It goes from just above the elbow into the chest area. They'll be able to draw blood from it, give him all his meds, and any contrast he may need for future testing. They've switched all his medication to IV meds because the nurse said he's not able to swallow pills right now. They've got him on fluids right now, and have given him several different vitamins and extra nutrition. They have increased his anti seizure medication and started antibiotics as a precaution until they figure out what's going on.

Right now he's in an isolation room, which means everyone else needs to wear a gown, mask, and gloves while in his room. They're concerned about infection or possible meningitis and will do a spinal tap at some point to rule those out. They're also starting another EEG, this time with video and audio recording, which will last approximately 24 hours. He's going to have many wires glued to his head and then they're going to put a head wrap on to maintain the location of the wires. Once they have all the recordings, they'll match up his brain activity with whatever is going on physically and try to find some correlation. With him having the 24 hour EEG, we have no ETA on when he'll have the spinal tap done.

He does seem to be hallucinating a little bit today, but he also hasn't slept at all since all of this started. His neurologist was going to make a note for them to give him meds to help him sleep tonight. When we got to the hospital today, I told him he needed to sleep and he said he couldn't because he needed to count the bolts. Mom and I think that he maybe thought he was at work. A few minutes after that, I asked him if he was at work and he said that "he's always working" but then he said he knew he was at Barnes St. Louis. I also asked him if he knew who I was, and he did.

At this point, Mom and I have decided that we don't want visitors coming to the hospital due to the fact that he's in isolation but once he is out, visitors will be welcome. We have no idea when he'll be home but obviously visitors will be welcomed then too. We do have decent cell service in this part of the hospital but if you text us and we don't respond, send us a Facebook message. There is Wi-Fi in the entire hospital and sometimes that's the best way to get a hold of us. We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers from everyone and I will continue to update the blog as we learn more!