Dad is continuing to do well. He's getting up and walking around a little more and you can tell he just feels better. Mom is home with him today and taking him to 2 dr's appointments. He is hoping to get that catheter out and I think that will really help him, it'll make it easier for him to get up and go to the bathroom, or take a walk down the hallway. His physical therapist came out yesterday and worked with him for over an hour. She didn't think he needed the walker, said he could use the cane. She gave him a band to do some exercises and he has some small weights he needs to use. I asked him how he felt this morning and he said "Great" and "I'm having positive thoughts today". I'm hoping he gets that catheter out today and is really doing good because we may need to leave him alone tomorrow. We're working on getting someone to come in but that won't happen until next week. We'll work it out.

Thank you for the continued prayers!

A really quick post (I'm at work). Just wanted to let you know that Dad got home from the hospital yesterday. Mom picked him up after work. It was her birthday too. He was doing really well last night, he was talkative, telling a story even and a joke or two. They are now giving him Prednisone and that seems to help. He'll take that for a couple weeks. He was in good spirits this morning too, although he got up to wake me, he thought I over slept and I wish he hadn't gotten up because he got winded and needed help getting back in bed.

Mr.Carrasco, our neighbor, has been visiting him daily. That's really nice of him. Junior is out of the picture from now on....we never could depend on him.

Dad has been doing well, but tonight he started not feeling well after dinner. We were celebrating Mom's birthday, which is tomorrow, and Junior brought us Chinese food and also a Chocolate Birthday cake. Dad had gotten up to have lunch, so he tried again for dinner but he wasn't feeling well. He got back in bed and we gave him a breathing treatment, but he just kept getting worse, so we had to call again and they took him to Emergency.

Junior and I took Gary back to his care center and then we went to the Emergency. He was doing better, they had taken xrays and gave him another breathing treatments. So we're not sure if he's coming home tonight, but we're hopeful. (Mom just got home and they are keeping him tonight. He was wheezing and they wanted to keep an eye on him).

Hi all,
Dad is doing well although he had a pretty bad day yesterday. He's been home, doing well with his breathing treatments, although he hates using the nebulizer. I guess I would too if I had to have that thing on for 15 minutes at a time 4 times a day. But he hasn't been back to Emergency lately, so he's continuing to do it. He had two Dr. visits yesterday which Junior took him too, the first one was early and he had to fast to have some blood work done. They came home and then they left for a 1 pm visit. They weren't back when I got home from work. We started to worry. We called to the Dr's office and they knew he was there, but not when he left or if he left or if he was taken to a hospital for anything. After being a little persistent, I got the supervisor to try and locate him but they could not. Then we get a call around 6 o'clock and poor Dad had his catheter taken out and they made him sit in the office for, no kidding, like 4 hours, to see if he'd go on his own. He could not. The nurses were trying to get him on the table, he lost his footing with his left leg, fell back and hit the back of his head hard. He has a nice goose egg on the back of the head. So they had to take an x-ray to make sure he's ok, which he seems to be, ice it and re-insert the catheter which he is just thrilled about. They finally called us to let us know what was going on but after he hit his head.

Dad's home nurse came over today, she said he was doing well.

I'm going to try and post his picture again, I could never get them to post with the previous post. Oh, they posted, the pics are of Dad (of course!) and the other one is his new recliner!

Dad is now home, he came home from the hospital last night. We had a hospital bed delivered and set-up last night, they also brought a walker and a nebulizer for his breathing treatments. We rearranged the garden room so that he can have his new recliner near and then the hospital bed and a table near him. He came in and went to bed, and he had a pretty good night. We had to go last night to get 4 prescriptions for him. He is on heart medications now too. Mom had to pick up one more today. He was up around 4:30, he wanted to sit for awhile in the recliner. He had a breathing treatment and had breakfast and he's been sleeping well (and noisily :) ) A Home Health Nurse came today around 10 am. She was really great, very nice, and she was here almost 2 hours. She will be back Monday or Tuesday, but they only allowed her to come for 2 visits. Mom may talk to them about getting some more visits, but maybe he won't need them, we'll see. I had a couple pics but they don't want to upload, so I'll try again later.

Our neighbor who has been away to Chile for a couple months, came to visit Dad today. That was nice.

A reminder, if anyone wants to leave a comment, you can do so by going to the end of this post and where it says Comments, click on it and it'll take you to another screen. You can leave an Anonymous comment (meaning you don't have to be signed up with Blogger), but put your name in the comment please so we know who you are. And when you are finished with your comment, look below if you need to enter some letters to have your post take, it's there to stop spammers. If you know anyone who would like to see this blog and know about any updates on Dad, please email me at mitchypoo777@yahoo.com with their email address or just forward to them. Thanks

Oh, Cindy was right and it is the steroids that is bringing Dad's sugar up. So we're watching his sugar but they did not have us get insulin for him. He's not thrilled about being on a low-sodium diet, but it'll probably do us all good.

Dad made it through the procedure just fine. The news sounded fairly optimistic. They were able to get in the heart with the catheter and he does not seem to have as much damage as they anticipated. He has some damage and weakness on the bottom left side of the heart. The one artery had some closing, but no blockage. I don't know what is next.

My cousin Gene(Wink) came to see Dad at the hospital. Mom and Dad had a hard time recognizing him, he's lost so much weight. He looks great I'm told. Woohoo Wink! Dad was happy he came by. My friend Jul came to be with my Mom and see Dad too, but was toting 2 inpatient toddlers with her and had a hard time finding mom and dad, thanks for trying Jul. I went right after work and I thought he looked well, but he was tired. And he had his dinner earlier, but he needed his puffer and the nurse was working on getting an OK from the Dr. for that. He's scheduled to come home today. And we're working on getting a hospital bed at the house, because I think he needs to be elevated to help his breathing. His sugar was high again too and they are looking into why that is. So all in all, yesterday was a good day for him.

Thank you all for your continued prayers! Hugs to you all!

Dad has been moved from ICU and moved to the 3rd floor for the evening. Me and Mom saw him after work and he looked good, he's breathing well and he's enjoying giving the nurses a taste of his sense of humor. The nurses are really wonderful there and seem to enjoy him . They are going to do a cardiac catheter tomorrow at another hospital. He's being moved tomorrow morning to the hospital in Arcadia and having the procedure done at 2 pm. Mom was concerned because after talking to Dr.'s when they did the angiogram, she thought he couldn't take a procedure like this, but the Dr. assured her that they need to do this and it's the only way right now to see what is actually going on with the heart. They know he had a heart attack, but they need to see if they can maybe put some stints in. This is my best understanding, I'll update if I get more or better information. We heard there was just recently an article about this hospital's Cardiac unit so we feel good about that. Mom is going to work until noon and then go to the hospital.

So prayers please...

Well, Dad had to go back to the hospital last night. He went to bed and seemed to be feeling good, but his breathing got bad again. Not as bad as the night before so Mom was able to drive him to Emergency. A male nurse saw her come in with Dad and said she looked familiar, she explained why and he whisked Dad away. His oxygen level was at 81, which is not good and he (the nurse) said when it's below 90 i think, they can make more decisions and he took him and admitted him right away to ICU. He is still in ICU, I just spoke to his nurse, she said he is doing okay.

Quick update...Dad is home. He's much better. He has to go to his primary Dr. tomorrow. And another Dr. on Tuesday and another to get his stitches out on Wednesday. He's watching TV and laughing, things are a little bit back to normal. :)

Dad is back in the hospital. I spoke too soon I guess. He seemed to have a pretty good day, he was talkative and eating. He laid down during the day and got up to have dinner. He loved Julie's Chicken and veggies and ate a great dinner, he came and watched some TV with me and Mom and he was able to get out of the chair by himself. He got ready to go to bed, went to the restroom and then Mom came out and said he was breathing weird. I went to check and it was like he couldn't catch his breath. It was very labored. I asked him if he felt anything else, he could speak, but quick and not in sentences. So we called 911 and they came and gave him oxygen and a breathing treatment, it never stopped or got better, his blood pressure was soaring and his pulse too. They took him to the hospital, they had to carry him to the gurney. Mom was there at the Emergency until 2 am. They continued to give him breathing treatments, but it never went away. They were waiting for a room in the cardiac area. So he called this a.m. and said he's feeling better, but Mom said his breathing still wasn't good. This is the second time he's come home and had to go back the same day, I'm not sure what to think.

He's home! Dad was on the phone promptly at 8:30 am telling Mom he was ready to come home. We still had to get Gary up and get ready so Dad made it home a little after noon. He looks great.

He had a visit yesterday from his brother Butch. He sounded very happy that Uncle Butch came to visit.

So tonight we're having a family dinner, a special dinner made for us by my best friend Julie. She made us a platter of chicken and vegetables with a cream sauce. Yum! We can't wait and I'm sure Dad will be happy to have some "real food" And thank you Jul, for thinking of us, it's really so nice of you.

Hope that picture isn't too graphic for you all. I thought he had his staples taken out of his head, but they are still there. He's getting them taken out on Wednesday. And the other pic is Dad on the couch, patiently waiting for his new recliner, that is being delivered on Monday.

Again, keep the prayers and good vibes coming, and thank you all! Big hugs to all of you! I think he's out of the woods for now though. Dad hasn't seen the blog yet, so I'm going to finish this post and then set it up for him.

I'm sorry for the lack of an update but it's been busy for me lately and no news is good news, right?! Well, we do have good news. Dad is scheduled to come home Saturday after his last physical therapy session and he is now walking without a walker! I talked to him today on the phone and he sounded really good, he's looking forward to coming home. They want someone to stay with him for the first part of the week, just to make sure he's ok at home on his own with me and Mom working now during the day. My hunnie Jr. is able to be here during the day on Monday and Tuesday so we're happy about that.

Thank you all for your caring and kind words. It means so much.

Mom, Gary and I went to see Dad today at the Convalescent Center. He was in bed when he got there but he looked well and was fairly talkative. He is getting up twice a day for physical therapy. He's taken walks down the hallway and back, but with a walker. The therapist wanted him to go outside but he was being ornery (frankly), he said it was cold and didn't want to. We tried to tell him that they are trying to help him and he should at least try. His appetite is not so great. He doesn't really like the food like he did at Hotel Huntington Memorial Hospital. They are tapering him off the steroids and I think that is why he's not so hungry. He looked to me like he lost a little weight actually. We stayed for about 1.5 hours or so until his 103 year old roommate (yes, he's 103 and not a 102 as first mentioned) started yelling in a pretty strong voice for his age...."NURSE!!"...and scared the life out of Gary! He jumped in his wheelchair, mom said she thought he was going to levitate. We couldn't help it, we laughed, but the poor man cannot hear a thing and he just kept yelling "NURSE!!" and "NURSE I need you" and Gary would jump every time. The last time I saw, Gary covered his ears and his face, like, make him stop! I went to go get a nurse for him but could not find one. Mom came back to the room and went to tell him that we were trying to find a nurse and he yelled at her...."I need a urinal" and he unfortunately had something out in the open waiting for his urinal. She said she said, ""OK, I'll get that for you", and gave him his urinal....I know, sorry, way too much information but we have to find our humor wherever we can get it! :)

Dad asked about all of you, I told him about the blog and then he wanted to talk to Uncle Rol so he called him on Mom's cell. He read some of his comments and was happy to see a note from Don Keenan. He said we should have brought the camera, which we were but forgot, we remembered while on the way there. So pics next time. He told me to tell you all that he's feeling better every day.

After the visit I took mom to the mall, she's been shopping for a new and sturdy, non-swiveling, non-rocking recliner for Dad. She found one she liked and it was on sale but the sale was over today, so she went in and ordered that for him. It's being delivered on the 13th. And Dad has a Dr. visit on the 15th in Glendale. Mom is starting a job this Monday and I'm working now so we're not sure how we're going to arrange that yet.

Dad did definitely have a small heart attack on Friday when he was released from the hospital. And he did lose some function on his left side. They didn't let him out of bed for a few days but then they got a physical therapist in and he was being exercised in bed twice a day and walking. He is tiring easily. They gave him a nitroglycerine patch to help him be more comfortable. I noticed that his breathing was different on Friday but the patch is helping. They are not able to do surgery on the heart because of the blockage in his arteries to the brain, so they plan to treat him with medication.

Today they moved him to the South Pasadena Care Facility for rehabilitation. They think he'll only be in there for 1 week, but we'll see. He is fine with the decision to go there, he said it might be fun. But Mom got him settled tonight and he has a roommate who is 102, very talkative and can't hear hardly at all. Dad's voice isn't loud anymore so that'll be interesting!

I saw him last night and he was doing ok. He had an angiogram and he had some pain in the groin from that and was very tired. He fell asleep while we were there so we left and left him a note.

Thank you all for well wishes and prayers! They are so appreciated.