Saturday

Saturday 1/3/09:
It is wedding day and Mom and I went to the hospital to check on how Dad did through the night. All of his vitals were fine and stable. He was eating breakfast and was happy to have food that had some taste to it. Didn't sleep well due to the mattress and all the alarms that were going off at the nurses station. He insisted that Charlotte and I go to Little Rock for the wedding and was upset that he was not going to be able to go.

I checked in with mother during the day and there was no visible change in his condition. He entertained a few visitors during the day and was fine. Mother went home to get some rest about 6:30 p.m.

On the way home from LR, I stopped by the hospital about 9:15p.m., and found Dad in much different condition than the last update I had from mother.
He was breathing through his mouth in short panting breaths and was somewhat confused about where he was and his capabilities especially about being able to get out of bed by himself. I noticed that the heart monitor was showing a much higher heart rate than it had been throughout the day.

As visiting hours ended, I asked the nurse to make sure that he didn't try to get out of bed by himself and that I was concerned about the breathing and heart rate.

I came home and called mother to see if some procedures had been done that I was not aware of that could have caused the change. She was unaware of any change. I called the nurse back and asked her to have the doctor check on his vitals. She responded, "We are on it"

At 10:30 p.m. I got a call from the nurse saying that Dad had gone into V-Tach or Ventricular tachycardia (Dad would want me to use the correct and full terms).
Basically, his ventricals started fluttering and the heart was not working.
He was "coded" and the team had to shock him once, administer epinephrine (adrenaline), did some chest compressions and stabilized him fairly quickly. He never stopped breathing on his own.
He was sedated and intubated so that he could relax and get O2 levels up.

Mom and I got to the hospital around 10:45 p.m. and spoke to the Cardiologist and Internist about what happened and what course of action to take.

We learned that sometime in the past 10 years Dad had a "silent" heart attack that was neither detected by Dad or his Dr., so his heart was already damaged and that his condition was and is critical.

I called all the family and made them aware of the changes and they all arrived during the wee hours of the morning and later on Sunday.