Monday, September 7, 2009

You never know...

Last Thursday seemed to be just another normal day, until about 3:00 pm.  Then I got a frantic phone call from my mom saying that Dad had had a seizure or something, could I come quick.  I remember telling her to call 911, and she said she had.  I tore out the door and yelled at Jared to come with me.  We jumped in the car and got there as fast as we could.  Dad was in the recliner with the back of it pushed back, at first glance he just appeared to be sleeping, but as you looked closer you could tell that he was unconsious, and he was breathing weird.  Mom was on the phone with the dispatcher, she handed the phone to me and the lady asked me if Dad was breathing, I told her that he was kind of snoring weird.  She asked if we could get him flat on the floor, so Mom grabbed one leg and I grabbed the other and Jared got under his shoulders and we moved him to the floor.  Jared was then able to hold his head and keep the airway open.  The paramedics came and couldn't get much response from him, he did mumble a little.  They started an IV and got him on a stretcher and headed for EIRMC in Idaho Falls.  Mom, Jared and I left  immediately for IF, too.  The ambulance got there about 10 - 15 minutes before we did.  By then he was sitting up and talking, whew! 

They did a CT scan, and said that everything looked normal.  About 7:00, they were deciding that he could go home, Mom was with him in the room and I was in the waiting room.  Blake had come and taken Jared to go home.  But I guess Dad wasn't ready to go home, because he had another seizure!  After a while when he was just coming out of the unconsious state, when he quit breathing!  They had to come in bag him for a few minutes.  They got him breathing again and ordered another CT scan, it too came back normal.  By now they are worried big time and send him to the ICU.  They start him on some anti seizure medicine and hook him up to all kinds of moniters.  Mom and I went up to ICU, and they talked us into going and getting some rest.  It was almost 11:00 and we really didn't want to drive home, so we got a room at the Hampton Inn just down the road from the hospital.  Even though we had a nice bed, neither of us slept very much, there were too many "what ifs" and "what now?" going through our minds.

On Friday morning, when we got to the hospital, they said that he had a very quiet night and had slept good.  He could remember part of the ambulance ride and being in the emergency room, but didn't remember the second seizure or much of moving to ICU.  They let him leave ICU after doing an EEG and put him in a room on the 5th floor.  They kept him there for observation until Sunday after lunch.  He hasn't had any more seizure activity and the Drs. are pretty sure that he won't while he's on the medication.  We are hoping and praying that they are right!  He's pretty tired and worn out, but seems to be doing pretty good.  It was a very scary few hours for Mom, and the rest of us.  We love you, Dad!  We're glad you're home and hope you stay out of that dern hospital for a long time!

2 comments:

Jodi said...

That is scary! Hope the seizure medication works and he doesn't have any more seizures!!

Lori said...

We'll keep him (and you) in our prayers.