That Night

I almost didn't walk over that night.  I almost just stayed home.  Something told me to just walk over, say "hi" to my parents and then come back shortly.  When I got to the house, I realized no one was in the den.  I walked back to my parents' bedroom and noticed the heat was on.  It was 80+ degrees that day so I just assumed the heat was broken.  But then I saw my mom putting a warm blanket over my dad as he was curled up in bed.  He was shivering uncontrollably.  He said, "I'm fine.  I'll be fine in a minute".  I decided to use the oximeter to take his oxygen level.  It was all I knew to do.  His oxygen was 81 - very bad news.  I could also hear some crackling noises coming from his throat.   I said, "I'm calling 911".

Dad didn't think he needed to go to the hospital.  The ambulance drivers didn't seem too concerned either and almost didn't take him to the hospital but, he changed his mind and said he wanted to go.  Within less than 2 hours his heart had been shocked and he was in the Cardiac ICU hooked up to a bipap machine.  The machine was very scary to me.  The nurse later explained that it was forcing him to breathe.  The noises were so loud.  It was absolute torture being in that room listening to the machine working so hard.  I brought mom home around 1:30 am and when I got to my house I cried.  I was tired and scared and starting to feel hopeless.  

Pretty soon my old friend anxiety disorder showed up big.  I felt like my skin was burning and I was going to die from the adrenaline.  I took one of my "emergency Xanax" and was able to calm down enough to get some sleep. One of the scariest things to me is walking into your loved ones hospital room in the morning, not knowing what to expect.  Thankfully Dad was off the breathing machine and feeling much better.  His heart was back in rhythm and the fluid was starting to be taken off of his lungs. 

He spent the next 2 1/2 days in the Cardiac ICU.  After the first day, they kept trying to move him to the Cardiac floor but there are just too many sick people in Charlotte.  A bed never became available. Dad was discharged from ICU to go home.  I'm so thankful for the wonderful staff at the hospital.