For those who haven't heard, my Dad has been in the hospital since Wednesday afternoon. While at work he started to feel a bit weak and faint. He tried to call his cousin Stephen who also works at the Prison, but he couldn't dial the extension. He told his inmate clerk that he wasn't feeling well and shortly after began vomiting blood and passed out. He also, possibly suffered a small seizure. Dad's clerk took his radio and shop keys from him and called for the institutions medic on the radio and then dialed 911 to call the ambulance. Fortunately, Stephen was close by and was able to get over to the shop quickly and found Dad's students trying to help him and praying for him. When the ambulance came Dad was rushed to St Francis hospital located about 2 minutes from Mom and Dad's house.
The doctor's did a test on Wednesday night (we'll see if I can get this all right) where they used a laparscopic scope through his throat into his stomach to see where the bleeding was originating. The belief was he was suffering from a bleeding ulcer. They had some trouble determining exactly what was going on b/c there was a clot found at the base of his esophagus but they were unsure what the clot was covering. Then plan was to go in again Thursday or Friday to get a better look.
Last night around 5pm they were able to go back and look at the clot and Dad's stomach. This time they found varicose type veins on the outside of his stomach... a place where they shouldn't normally be. It can be the symptoms of some pretty serious things but we won't dwell on those now. The doctors have looked at his heart, his liver and are continuing to do test so they can find out how best to help Dad.
Dad is not the most cooperative patient. When he was 1st admitted he was trying to convince them to let him go home that night... right Dad! He tried flirting with one of the nurses... no luck. After his procedure on Wednesday night he got a little combative with the hospital staff. We are sure this was a side effect of the medication they gave him. Mom was able to go in and get him a bit calmer and stayed with him through the night. He slept a lot yesterday and I am not sure how much of the day he really remembers. Today he seems a bit more like himself. He said, maybe I'll go home tomorrow. Ahhh... baby steps.
We are all very thankful to the wonderful friends and family who have kept Mark in their prayers and we ask for you to continue to do so. Hopefully we will get some idea of what the causes of Mark's condition soon.
1 comment:
Wow. Your parents have had it rough. Keep me posted on what's going on. I hope everything is 'aight.
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