Today was a another pretty rough day for Dad, I went to wake Dad up about 10 am and found him crying in his bed. Not quite as bad as yesterday, but he was just feeling miserable. I asked him to get up and eat, but I had to dress him as he could not put on his shorts or slippers.
He did get up and ate some shredded wheat, then said he had to go to the bathroom again and when I went to check on him after about 15 minutes, I found him in bed. He slept from 11 - 2 when I woke him up again to get ready for his doctors visit. We made it to Dr Heidari where Dad got weighed and had gained 3 lbs from last week. Dr Heidari was watching Dad get weighed and have his vitals taken, he saw that Dad had gotten weaker from the previous week. He also noticed that Dad's facial paralysis was slightly better than two weeks ago. Dr Heidari said that Dad's kidney function is down to 19% from 23% previously, additionally he said Dad's ESR was at 50, which I understood was holding steady. He said this is a measure of infection/inflammation and thought that holding steady is a sign of improving. He asked whether Dad was scheduled for chemo and I said he was not. He offered that he thought Dad is very weak and did not see Dad being able to tolerate chemo. He did say he is not an oncologist, but that was just his opinion and he would re-look at it in a couple of weeks. He also said that Dad's ears are looking better and that he can see the ear drum. The right ear is dry and the left still has some fluid.
We then went to get the paracentisis, or fluid drained from his abdomen. As they were prepping Dad, I asked the doctor what his guess was for how many liters they would remove after looking at the ultrasound of Dad's belly. He said 3 to 4 liters, absolutely no more than 4. Well they removed 7.3 liters, which I calculated to be over 16 lbs. Dad had the fluid removed while under a local anesthetic, but he was very quiet during the whole procedure. When they finished they said since they removed more than 5 liters they needed to give Dad Albumen to help replace some of the protein he lost due to the procedure. While getting the IV, Dad slept through the 45 minute procedure.
Dad came home, ate and went and sat in his chair where he would dose off again until about 8:30. Even when Nedra called right after he came home to see if she could come over, Dad said he really didn't want company even if she was leaving tomorrow for Costa Rica for 18 days. We watched some old home videos that you should have gotten a link to. It was had to watch some of the video due to it's quality, but since I was able to have it on the tv, it helped. His memory is still very good.
When going to bed, he said he was feeling much better. I am hoping we can get Dad to do more tomorrow than today. We do not have any planned doctors appointment now until next Tuesday.
Also, if anyone wants to skype with Dad, I can now run it through his tv and speaker. He really enjoyed seeing Catie and Amelia and that was just on my pc. If you are interested, just let me know so I can set it up in advance.
Just one side note from yesterdays visit with the opthamologist, Dr Alexandrakis said that macular degeneration can be genetic and suggested that Dad and all of us take Lutein regularly. I hear Cay Health Food can supply all of your needs!!
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