I spent the evening tonight with Dad in his new ICU room. I think its the best room in the SICU, which is awesome. It has a nice view out the windows, and its a corner room. He has it all to himself, and it's nice and quiet. Sadly, he's not really in a position to enjoy the view or the space, but what I'm sincerely hoping is that it affords him the opportunity to sleep longer and better, something I believe his brain desperately needs. He remains delirious, but he has lucid periods where he appears to be cognizant of what is going on around him. Today was particularly sad, as when Mom and I said goodbye and that we'd be back in the morning some tears formed in his eyes. I badly miss my father and eagerly hope he makes a speedy recovery.
Dad had another CT scan, chest xray, and had a nasal gastric feeding tube placed today to make sure he doesn't aspirate any food. The CT shows no further bleeding, which once again is a good thing. His CXR shows something going on in his left lower lobe, but its tricky to say if its pneumonia or atelectasis apparently. He still has no fever, which is a good sign.
On our way out we met with Dr. Applebee, who gets props from me for being very kind and taking the time to inform us about Dad's situation. It is so very different for me to be in the families role; while I would never wish this kind of tragedy upon my peers, I think it's a very valuable experience to gain. Dr. Applebee spent time telling us about Dad's possible pneumonia, his delirium, and his CT Scan. Overall, she sounded very optimistic, and said that despite the setbacks of pneumonia (potentially) and the delirium, with some rest and time he should get over both of those and is looking good for making some recovery. I really hope she turns out to be right, we could use some lucky breaks.
Edit: I forgot to mention, Dad's left arm and both legs are very edematous now. I suspect this is mostly from not moving them at all for the past few days combined with lots of IV fluids.
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