phew

My dad is at last getting better. Late last week he was diagnosed with ARDS – Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome which basically means they didn't know what was wrong. He was given a 60% chance of surviving and we were all frantic with worry. Finally on Tuesday he pulled through and was taken off the respirator, but we still didn’t’ know with any certainty whether his lungs would be able to function on their own. And if his lungs did function, would his kidneys be able to clear the fluids that were in his lungs?

On Wednesday morning he had survived the night without being put back on the respirator, and we breathed a sigh of relief. However, he then developed a depression and refused to cooperate with the nurses- he ripped out his feeding tube and my mom had to go and coax him into allowing it to be put back in. It wasn’t until late Friday that he was given the all-clear to be moved out of intensive care.

I went to see him today and he is unplugged from the myriad of tubes and monitors he had attached to him, and has only one feeding tube in his nose – his throat is so swollen from the respirator that he is not able to swallow. He has also lost a ton of weight, but is in good spirits. We are all immensely relieved and happy to see him back with us. He has lost memory of most of his time in intensive care, but I can’t say it would be something he would want to remember anyway.