Wrap-Up On My Parent’s Condition

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes for my parents this past week. I’m sorry if I didn’t respond to everyone. It’s been a busy week.

My parents are doing really well. My brother and I spent several days with them at home making sure they were settled and could live on their own. I could tell my dad was recovering because he took advantage of the situation to put my brother and I to work doing chores around the house.

We joked that it felt just like old times when we were growing up.

Overall the hospital did a great job of fixing them up. There are just a few things that bothered me. Hopefully some of the things (both good and bad) I saw may someday help you and your family navigate the medical system wherever you are.

I’ll start with my Dad. My Dad fell on the steps going from the garage to the kitchen. He had a big bruise from his rear end down his leg. At first he tried to tough it out at home. Then at night my mother told me he started screaming out in pain. Like nothing she had heard before. Some of his tendons really tensed up and caused the pain. She wondered if he had cracked some ribs.

So off to the hospital they went.

The x-rays showed a cracked vertebra. The neurosurgeon took a look at it and said he did not need surgery. This was a great relief for all of us. Back surgery seems really risky and the complications can be devastating. Especially when you’re 88.

After my Mom came home from the hospital that night, she lay down in her bed to go to sleep. A couple of hours later she woke up feeling very dizzy and her heart was racing. She decided she needed to go to the hospital as well and called some friends to drive her.

The first diagnosis for my mother was a possible stroke. They ran all sorts of neurological tests on her to see. She passed all of them with flying colors. No stroke.

Then they hooked her up to an EKG and performed a bunch of cardiovascular tests. Her blood pressure and pulse was elevated. She has had a history of high blood pressure but since her son has been ‘pestering her all the time’ about her diet, she has excellent readings and is on no medication.

The diagnosis came back as atrial fibrillation (afib). She has not had a history of afib and this was a first time diagnosis.

The next morning when I talked to her on the phone, she seemed a lot better. They had given her a saline IV and she had a good night’s sleep. As best you can have in a hospital.

Prior to the incident, she had just returned from Hawaii with one of her granddaughters. A nonstop flight and she didn’t sleep at all on it. Then as soon as she returned home my Dad fell. Another night without any sleep.

While taking care of my Dad in the hospital, she also went about 36 hours without eating and drinking. She said she had a small hamburger before she went to bed at home.

Seems like her lifestyle had more to do with her condition than suddenly having afib. That didn’t stop the nurse and doctors from prescribing a statin (she rejected it) and blood thinners for the afib.

I reached out to a cardiac surgeon friend of mine. I’m a big believer in medical second opinions just as I am when I don’t like the mechanic’s estimate for my car. He thought if this was the only time she has shown afib that he would not prescribe a blood thinner.

My Mom has another appointment with another cardiologist soon. In the meantime she opted to take the blood thinner ‘because they really scare you in the hospital’. Frustrating but it did not seem like there is a lot of downside risk. She did say she will work on asking the new cardiologist to discontinue the blood thinner.

Overall it could have been a lot worse. And it was wonderful to have our family together again. I love how caring all of you have been, and my parents so appreciate your prayers.