Background: 6/5 - 6/11

Friday 6/5: 
Julie misses a call from Daddy at 9:40, no message. Receives a call from him about noon. He sounds terrible. His driveline site is leaking fluid like whoa. It's been going on for a couple of days and he has been communicating with and sending pictures to the UMMC LVAD nurses since it started. This is the open wound with a power and control line that goes straight to his heart and it's very, very important that it not get infected. Special supplies and procedures for changing it every week. Julie was very glad to hear that he had already been communicating with the nurses and not just hoping it would go away, kudos for pro-active and responsible behavior. The reason he was calling me was because they wanted him to come in and he said, quote "I don't know how I'll make it" (the drive). Julie calls the LVAD nurses to ask if there is anything his local hospital can do because getting to Baltimore is not simple. They said that if it gets any worse and shows signs of infection, he should go to the ER and get transferred to them. Their impression was not that it was infected, but that because he's been more active since going home in March, they noticed at his 5/20 checkup that his legs were more swollen and upped one of his meds for controlling fluid retention. So he's retaining fluid and it was just coming out the path of least resistance.

Friday was not a good conversation day. Daddy was very upset, and Julie tried to keep him focused on solving a transportation problem. I also really wanted him to go to the VA ER for them to check for infection because he had soaked through many paper towels just that morning. He just said he was going to bed and wanted to sleep on it all.

Saturday 6/6:

He does go to the VA ER in the morning. The awesome neighbor takes him. They verify that he does not have an infection and can't really do anything better with the bandaging.

In the meantime, Julie calls him back and says "give me a better option than coming out there to get you". Daddy asked a couple of friends and no one could bring him to DC. Not even with free lodging and food. (Julie is particularly annoyed at a certain friend who always says "let me know if there is anything I can do" and then never does anything she asks. This person says Daddy is his dearest friend and that he'll do anything to help. He used to call every day last summer. Anyway.) The awesome neighbor has probably never left the state of West Virginia and probably could not handle DC traffic, so we don't ask him.

UMMC changed his appt to Wednesday in order to do a sonogram of his stomach (not Monday), and Daddy feels better on Saturday and says he can drive. Julie had a job interview the following week but did not know which day, so Jenny considered coming up to help get him around.

Not much goes on Sunday or Monday, but Daddy says that it's not spurting fluid out like it was on Friday.

Monday, I find out that my job interview is on Thursday.

At some point, he says on the phone that he must have "busted something" while on the tractor and hit a rut.

Tuesday 6/9: Daddy arrives at Casa Ard. Things seem ok. He looks tired and requests help with bringing things up and down stairs. This is unusual, but shows that he was not wanting to over-do anything. Activity and coughing and effort make him leak.

Wednesday 6/10: Daddy goes to his appt. They did not do a sonogram, don't know why. They did culture the fluid and verified that it was not infected. Instructed him to change his dressing daily.

Daddy wanted to hurry home (to Casa Ard) to catch me before I left for the airport. He got home around 4:00 and seemed fine. We talked, he made popcorn, I printed stuff out and checked in for my flight. At 5:00 I started looking at Uber availability and decided I should eat before I headed out. At 5:30 I request an Uber car and hug him goodbye. He's sitting on the couch in the living room. I am literally walking out the door and he gets up I guess to see me off. I see him lean and his knees buckle. Drop all of my shit everywhere. Try to pick him up. He remembers me yelling "Daddy, Daddy!" but said he was out of it. He was not responsive for a couple of seconds. We get him up on all fours and there is blood dripping from a scratch on his eyebrow. He's talking again (R-rated) and I ask him to just rest on his knees so I can tell the Uber guy real quick to wait or not wait. I said "can you do that and not move for 30 sec?" and he says ok. Uber guy says no problem, can he do anything to help.

Then I help Daddy up and walk him to the couch. He's kind of dazed. I run around for first aid supplies and clean him up. (Actually, my fitness watch gave me credit for exercise, so I know that it happened at 5:35.) He said that he hasn't had anything to eat all day and we talk about blood sugar and that maybe his system is just more delicate now. Jaron & I know someone else who had low blood sugar and passed out a lot. I explain that Jaron & I get bitchy (aka, hangry) if we haven't eaten in a while and that is from low blood sugar and happens to everyone. It's his habit to not eat until late dinner. He was going to stop at Subway but wanted to catch me before I left.

He is very apologetic and really wants me to go on my job interview. I tell him that his ass has to stay on that couch until Jaron gets home. Can he promise me that? He definitely wants me to go to my job interview and agrees. I got him a nut bar, some dried fruit, and the popcorn he had just made and a glass of water. Asked if he needed to pee before I left or if he wanted a bottle to pee in. He chuckled and said he was ok. Reiterated not moving his ass from the couch. Agreed.

Daddy says that his neck kinda hurt and that when he fell it snapped his head back. While cleaning up the blood off the tile, I see a scuff mark on the wall that is probably from that. Daddy's face landed on Jaron's flip flops by the patio door.

Julie gets in to the Uber and calls Jaron, who has just left work. Ask him to pick up more hemostatic gauze and take care of dinner for Daddy so that he's not walking around and falling any more tonight. Based on Julie's extensive neck anatomy knowledge, she knows that it's very easy to get clots from neck injuries. I tell Jaron to keep an eye on the back of his neck and if there is any blood pooling under the skin or bruising to take him to the ER. So Jaron takes care of Daddy Wed night while I'm gone and everything is fine.

Thursday, 6//11:

Daddy did say that Thursday morning when he woke up his neck hurt real bad. Tender, tender. I get home Thursday night at 8:00 to Jaron shampooing carpet in the basement because the sump pump backed up. (Jaron had an awesome Wednesday night.) I ask Daddy where in his neck it hurt and he pointed towards the top. I tell him to try out some of the other pillows in the linen closet and that he probably needs a taller pillow. I check his neck quite a bit and it looks fine and he said that it felt better and just hurt in the morning.We all go to bed at midnight and Daddy seems totally fine and is going to hit the road in the morning.



Next episode: Friday, today, 6/12. Will go ahead and post for now. Jenny & Jaron just got here. Daddy has been napping in between neuro-checks and doing better at them. The nurse says he's more relaxed and that helps. She's really good, patient & explains things. And cheerful. And calls him Handsome.