My Father's in ICU

I just want to let you know that my father is not doing to well. He is in the Intensive Care Unit in the hospital.

On Monday July 17th he had a spasm in his left arm which caused it to "lock-up". Tuesday (18th July) he was admitted into Doctor's Hospital for observation. This was after a scan of his head. The doctors noticed 3 spots that they believe are cancerous because of his history dealing with it. The doctor's are not sure wheather the spots in his brain are indeed cancerous or not. The only way they can do this is to do a biopsy. However they cannot do this because of the small size and the location in his brain. They do not want to go in there and do more damage. Basically dad was bleeding from these locations in his brain which are inflamed. The only other option to "treat" the damaged portions of his brain is with radiation.

Dad was released from the hospital on Thursday (20th July). It was so nice to have him at home again.

Since then dad has been having the radiation on his brain. Chemotherapy had to be stopped since the two forms togther can do more bad than good. Chemotherapy & radiation do not mix well together.

On Saturday 26th August dad had a 104 degree temperature.

Dad has not been able to speak like his usual self. He has been running out of breath easily. His breathing has gotton so bad. Quick short breaths.

On the Wednesday another high temp. And on Friday it was back up to 104 again. Dad looked really, really bad. He was buring right up but he did not want to go to the hospital because that night (Friday) was a planned suprize birthday party for mom (who's actual birthday was on the following Monday). Even though daddy did not want to go he had to, so he confessed to mommy about the party.

On Sunday (3rd Sep) he was admitted into ICU and has been there since. Dr. Curling said that dads breathing passage had been clogged with a clot. He said that the cancer was making it hard for him to breathe. Also they found out that dad had pneumonia. The doctors decided to open up his lunges so that he can breathe easier. They inserted a tube down daddy's throat into his lungs and he was put on a resperator (the breathing machine). He now also has a staph infection as a result from the "operation".

Monday it was believed that dad had had a stroke because he was not moving his left part of his body. He had a scan done in the morning to see what changes occured in his brain. If there was a stroke it would be visible in the results. We would also be able to see if the spots in his head had grown in any way. There were no changes compared to the previous scan done in July.

Mom has been in the hospital by daddy's side straight through. She is so tired and worn out. She's a trooper though. If she did not have her children, and good friends to support her I just don't know what type of state she'd be in. She's not eating well, a little piece of something here and there. At least she's eating something. We all keep asking her if shes hungry, if she wants a sandwitch etc.