Today when the family initially got into the hospital, Dad was still on a relatively high dose of Versed which is being used to sedate him overnight. When we had left last night, we were told to expect that they would start to wean him off again between 6 and 8am and that we could expect another day similar to yesterday with dad off from almost all sedatives. Instead, we were told that plans had changed and that he needed a day to rest.
We were pretty upset and frustrated and confused at the change in plans. It seems pretty convenient that when short staffed, they have a "day to rest" planned for my dad. However, in talking further with them, they talk about keeping him safe, they don't want him to fall out of bed, or stress his body or heart too much. We started to come around and figured that we could just get through the day...just one more day of this....then tomorrow the light at the end of the tunnel. The doctors had decided Friday that he was ready to move to a rehab facility as soon as the weekend is done and the paperwork gets processed. Maybe we could live with a day of rest.
Around noon, Aubrey asked to talk with our case worker just to make sure that everything still looked good for going to the rehab center tomorrow. The case workers said that because dad is back on the IV sedation, so long as he is still on the IV sedation, there is no way that the rehab will accept him into the program. ok....deep breath.... We go talk to the nurse and ask if they will more seriously think about backing off the sedation because we do not want to risk our chance to move dad forward. She agreed to talk with the doctor and VERY SLOWLY, they cut back on the sedation and increased a different medication to help ease his agitation. However, by 6:30pm tonight when we left, he was still sleeping and on a pretty healthy dose of the IV sedation. They had already begun to discuss that he would likely not be ready to move like the original plan had been.
So another day of feeling like we took at step back. We were looking forward to moving dad over to the Rehab Facility in hopes that they have more experience dealing with patients during this agitated phase of recovery and the right resources to help them safely progress. But it seems like that is slipping away. It feels terrible.
And tomorrow we have another new doctor beginning his 7 days in the CCU, so we will work to get familiar with him and his philosophy and see what strategy he develops (hopefully there is a strategy). With Dr. M, it seems like there was always a strategy....each day it was "lets try this" or "lets try that." All of our future plans (like the planned move the CareLink and the planned move to Rehab) were developed by Dr. M, and seem to be dismantled by Dr. P. So tomorrow we will meet Dr. A and just pray that he has some fresh ideas and/or will continue to move forward in a similar fashion to Dr. M.
Specific prayer requests for today:
- Pray that my dad can come off from the sedation tomorrow without the same level of agitation that we have seen the past few days.
- Pray that the Rehab Facility will understand his case and that they will be ready, willing, and and able to meet him where he is at and actively work to move him forward.
- Pray for good care and fresh ideas/strategies as we meet and begin to work with Dr. A tomorrow.
- Pray that as a family we can continue to be with my dad and advocate for him, and balance our lives outside of the hospital as all of us have to return to work this coming week.
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