September 25, 2009

On August 02, 2009 my dad was taken into Aurora South Medical where the doctors determined that my dad had suffered a severe stroke. When he first came into the emergency room, the doctors determined that he had fallen into a three hour window from when they believe that he first taken his stroke. They felt that my dad was a great candidate to receive a a drug called tPA. tPA is considered as a clot-busting drug. This drug works to dissolve blood clots and also reduce the amount of damage to the heart muscle. In my dad's case he had a stroke that was caused by blood clots that block blood flow to his brain. 94% of the time, this magical drug can be used to help dissolve the clot quickly and to help illuminate long term damage. But the the other 6% can cause hemorrhage or bleeding, resulting in major brain damage.
On August 03, 2009 the doctors contacted my mom and myself less than 5 hours after my dad was admitted to the hospital. They determined that my dad's brain had hemorrhage all over, resulting in severe brain damage due to the drug tPA. With all odds against him, On Wednesday August 05, 2009 my dad decided that enough was enough with all the doctors and nurses saying that he was going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. He woke up, pulled out his life support and tried to communicate with us. Just days after this miracle, my dad was talking, laughing, smiling, eating, combing his hair and so much more. We knew that it was a long journey ahead of him to get better but we were so optimistic that he would be coming home soon and doing all the things that the doctors said he would never do again.
On Wednesday August 12, 2009 my dad was moved from the ICU to the 5th floor. He was doing so good that the doctors felt that it would be better for my dad not to be in ICU. That evening after he was moved, my dad developed a very high fever that lasted for several days. As the days passed, my dad became very tired, less talkative, congested, and showed signs of an infection. By Friday evening the doctors had decided to move him back to ICU where he would be watched more closely and given more attention to his special needs. From this point all the way until August 20, 2009 my dad remained in ICU. Fighting hard to get healthy, stronger and fight all the infections that he had going on his in body.
On Sunday August 23, 2009 I received a phone call from my mom that the doctors felt that my dad was slowly going into kidney failure. I remember sitting at the mall (it's was my husbands Birthday) and my heart just stopped. I felt so much pain in my heart and I couldn't do anything to help him. I was so chocked up that I could barely breath. I waited until Monday to go and see him. I will never forget what happened. My dad was laying on his side looking towards the door. When I walked it, he smiled (the biggest smile in the world) at me and began to cry. At that moment, I broke down. I ran over to him, held him so tight and cried with him. He couldn't tell what was wrong but I knew. That morning while I was with him, he cried several times. My son Asher who is four years old kept saying "Why is pop's crying?" I knew why but couldn't tell him. I believe in my heart that my dad knew he was getting ready to go to heaven. He would smile at me and then cry. As if he wanted to tell me what I had already knew was coming. When I left him that afternoon, he had enough strength to say "Bye, Bye." That would be the last words I would hear from my dad's mouth.
On Tuesday August 25, 2009 my mom and I received a phone call from the doctors that my dad had developed a blood infection called Sepsis. Sepsis is a serious medical condition characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state and the presence of a known or suspected infection. They believe that my dad's body may have developed this inflammatory response to microbes in the urine from when he begun to go into Kidney Failure on that Sunday. At 1:30pm my mom decided that my dad had suffered enough. At this point he had severe sepsis that was leading to organ dysfunction, low blood pressure and septic shock She felt that my dad wouldn't want to suffer any more and decided to do Comfort Care. Comfort Care is where the nurses give you small amount of morphine every 30 minutes to keep you comfortable until you pass away. At 6:20pm my dad took his last breath.
There are no words to explain the three week journey that my dad went through. Just questions as to Why it happened this way. I wish that he was still here with us today. Laughing, smiling, playing with my kids and aggravating my mother (in a good way). But God has another plan for him.