Defibrillator Procedure Scheduled

As you have probably noticed, my blogging has been few and far between the past 30 days. With everything that's been going on with my father's health, I haven't had much time or energy to devote to blogging. I'm hopeful that this will change over the course of the month as I have plenty of items I would like to blog about.

My first blog entry of Aug 2009 is related to my father's health issue. I took a half day off from work to accompany my father to consult the doctor who will be performing the procedure to implant the defibrillator. It was a mid-afternoon appointment, but like most doctor appointments, they are never on time. We waited an hour past our appointment time before we finally were seen by the nurse. The nurse did her thing and checked my father's vitals (which included an EKG) which took about 15 minutes total.

After that was done, we were told to sit tight as the doctor would be right with us. Well, we waited for another 20 minutes before the doctor came in. He basically told us that he had consulted with my father's cardiologist and agrees with the assessment that my father would benefit from a defibrillator. After a brief discussion, my father gave his approval to have the procedure and we had it scheduled.

Unfortunately, the earliest they could do it was late this month. I was hoping to have it done sooner, but the doctor's schedule was already booked for the next 3 weeks. He said my father should be fine in the meantime as long as he gets plenty of rest, continues taking his medication, and takes it easy for the next few weeks. I asked my dad to do just that and to minimize his activity.

As I stated before, I'm going to be anxious between now and the day of the procedure. Here's hoping to no emergency room visits or additional health-related drama. I've had my fill of them.

Dark Clouds Have Returned

The dark clouds have returned and may be with me for a bit....

I received another scare with my dad this past week. I got a call from mom one evening where she told me that my dad had weakness and numbness in both his arms and legs. Obviously, I rushed over and had him taken to the hospital emergency room.

It wasn't a heart attack, so we feared that it may be a stroke. At the hospital, they performed a CT scan and a neurologist checked him. The neurologist ruled out a stroke (much to our relief). The cardiologist, however, believes the weakness my dad experienced was a result of his weakened heart from the cardiac episode 3 weeks back. With that said, the cardiologist highly recommended that my dad get a defibrillator. He stated that my dad is susceptible to sudden death due to his weak heart and having the defibrillator could prevent that from happening.

My dad was hesitant to get it. He's regained feeling in his limbs and isn't keen on undergoing further surgery. However, the cardiologist explained to him that this procedure isn't open heart surgery. The procedure for the defibrillator is a 1 to 2 hour procedure which can be done on an outpatient basis for most people. Being that my dad is in a weakened condition, the cardiologist said that they would keep him overnight at the hospital just to ensure that everything is okay. He would get to go home the next day.

We're now setting up a time to have the procedure. Between now and then, I'm going to be a bit anxious and hope that we'll be able to weather the dark clouds that are upon us.