An update on Dad for Saturday

This is Bob again.

I visited with Dad earlier today. While I was there, he was resting peacefully. He's sedated due to the use of a ventilator but was able to shake his head or nod to respond to questions. When I got there, the Fox news channel was playing on the TV with the speaker on a control near his head. He's not a fan of Fox, so I set up his clock radio to a station he likes and stopped the TV.

While I was there, a respiratory tech did a routine procedure that makes him cough and allows them to draw up crud from his lungs. You or I could just cough that stuff up but with the ventilator, you need some help.

He's still on a low dose of a drug to keep his blood pressure up and they have a standard course of antibiotics they're using to treat the pneumonia. His vital signs are very stable. His blood oxygen levels are great (99 and 100) while breathing 40% oxygen. (That's about double normal air.) They have a feeding tube in place so he's getting nutrition that way. They are still working at lowering his blood sugar levels, which were just under 200. At home, he'd wake up with low sugar and then be high to very high at lunch, dinner, and bedtime. The doctors the steroid that helps prevent swelling in the brain (due to radiation and chemo treatment) often makes the blood sugar hard to control.

We have some beautiful roses from Dad's garden in a vase in the window. The room gets good indirect sunlight so you get a good sense of day and night.

I brought Mom to see Dad last night for a short visit before we had dinner. He was apparently a bit more sedated than today as he wasn't responding to us. We held his hands for a while and talked to him. Today I told him about a family birthday party for Emily.

Please keep Dad in you prayers. Dad has an amazing set of friends that care very deeply for him.

-- Bob