Manly fuowned by Katie's blog: "update on Dad"

Just got back from visiting dad in the hospital. Quite a bit has happened since my last update, but I didn't want to be overbearing with so many updates! Long story short, he had two surgeries since my last update. First, he had a procedure on his prostate...something that probably should have been done years ago. Yesterday, they put in his new knee replacement. So, needless to say, he is on morphine today to ease the pain, but they have already started physical therapy. What all this means, I guess, is that he is doing much better in that the blood poison has been rectified. He has received 6 units of blood in the past two weeks because he is anemic. The doctors seem to feel that because of his age, fresh blood will rectify that condition more quickly than just using medication...dunno if that's true, but that's what the nurse told me today! All in all, he looks SO much better than he did and is in very good spirits, considering the circumstances. Thank you ALL for your thoughts and prayers...they have MOST certainly helped! Ed

I just received a phone call from both my mom and brother that they have taken my father from the nursing facility to the hospital and he is in renal failure. They are also having a difficult time establishing a regular heartbeat. The doctors will be "working on him" until a result is reached. Not knowing what will happen in the very near future, I thought I would let you know that if I am suddenly absent from Fubar, the worst has occurred. I will not be going into the hospital at this time as there is no way that I can see him. Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers and I will be here, hoping for the best, until I hear further news. ******UPDATE******
I just received another call from my brother. He has been in the ER about an hour now and has been stabilized. He will be there until about 7pm EDT. I will do another blog when I know more....Thank you ALL again!

I just returned from visiting my father at the hospital. He went through his second surgery on Tuesday, where they once again removed his replacement knee, sterilized, irrigated and put it back in. He DID have a bit of a heart issue near the end of the surgery, but the Drs. assured us that they were able to stabilize everything before sending him to recovery. Seeing him today made me feel better because he actually ate something and they used a lift to get him out of bed and had him sitting in a chair for quite a while. The major concern still remains the blood poison, which sent him there in the first place. There are still issues with his kidneys and sugar levels, but at 80, the Drs. told us this was to be expected. I videoed portions of my son's baseball game from last night, put it on DVD and played it for him today. It seemed to lift his spirits tremendously. As you probably don't know, out of 5 grandchildren, my son is the only boy and carries his name. To not turn this into an epistle, I will finish by saying that he will be moved to a Geriatric IV and Physical Therapy facility. He needs the antibiotic treatment for 6 more weeks to be sure to try to rid his system of the blood poison. Once the doctors are satisfied with his status, they will once again remove the knee replacement that is in now and replace it with a new, permanent one. Thank you so much to all my friends and family who have kept him in their thoughts and prayers. They HAVE helped tremendously. I will do another update sometime next week!

To all my friends and family: I just returned from the hospital after visiting my father. He is in the ICU after the surgery, but has been taken off the ventilator. He was relatively lucid, considering he is on morphine to ease the pain of the surgery. I spoke with several of his drs. and they told me that he was as good as could be expected for an 80 year old after surgery. His vital signs are good, but still has the blood poison, issues with his kidneys and a few other things that are being treated. They also mentioned that his stay will be quite lengthy, probably 7 weeks or more. So, rather than updating you on a daily basis, I will update you as things change. Thank you again to all of you for your sincere caring and thoughts.