Dad Out of Hospital, Into Rehab

Above is Dad on Monday having lunch....

 

Here is dad today (Friday) eating lunch...what a change!  

So, what was his problem?  After I posted what I posted last Friday, I learned that he had Sepsis R/T UTI. In layman's terms, Sepsis is a serious problem where an infection has gone seriously out of whack. The "R/T" means "related to", and I think we all know what a UTI is.  By Sunday the nurse told me that he was no longer considered Septic, that they hit the infection with the proper antibiotic, and his kidney levels were back near normal.  By Tuesday the doctor said that the UTI was totally under control and that Friday would be the last of the antibiotic (all given through intravenously).  However, dad was still suffering from lack of strength, and he was showing signs of delirium.  Delirium is when one has confused thinking and reduced awareness of the environment.  For instance, on Wednesday dad tosses off his covers and announces, "I need to get up."  I wondered if he meant that he needed to use the toilet, but he said "No, I just need to get out of bed."  Then he asks, "Where am I?"  I told him the hospital, and since he was so lucid at that moment, I told him all that I could think of about his condition.  He goes, "Oh, ya...I remember now."  The nurse comes in shortly after and I tell her, and dad looks at her and says, "It is like I awoke from a amnesia dream..."

Now in the above picture, we "WISH" he was always that happy and full of energy as the picture portrays.  But he still falls asleep fairly quickly, and he talks in his sleep way more than normal.  He still has his moments of confusion.  It hurts his back every time he has to get up, roll over on his side, even just moving the head of the bed up or down.  The last two days his appetite has returned (as much as a 91 year old has an appetite), and today the doctor decided it was time to send him off to skilled nursing for rehab therapy.  

At 5 pm, he was moved back to the same rehab facility that he was in back at the end of May and through mid-June.  The above picture was taken around 6:30.  The move tired him out, and in rehab you don't have a room to yourself, but the guy he shares his room with seems to be very alert and quiet.  We hope that he will regain his strength so that he can return to the Assisted Living facility where they live...time will tell. 

Back in the Hospital Again...

Yep, third time in 5 months dad has found himself in the hospital.  Yesterday another UTI hit hard.  Got him to the very crowded ER, and as soon as he could get to a bed (3-4 hours after we arrived), they had him on a antibiotic via an IV.  This pic is from this morning...doing much better.

Although it took awhile to get into a bed, they had already taken a chest x-ray, blood, EKG before he got a bed, and urine sample immediately after he got into bed AND the IV and antibiotic started simultaneously.  Results came back quick and it was a bad UTI.  

Today the white blood cells are nearly back to normal, and kidneys functioning better, and he is starting to get back to his 91 year-old normal condition.  Hope he will be out tomorrow, but it might be Monday...