My dad went into the hospital late last night with heart trouble. He has had two heart attacks already and it doesn't look to good. If he pulls through, he is going to be in the hospital for several days and I have to be there with him so I won't be at the game Saturday.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Definitely. We're all pulling for him.

Thank you all and I have an update:

It's not a heart attack, but they haven't ruled out a stroke just yet. He is starting to respond which is a good sign. I've got to get back to the hospital, but I'll keep you in touch.

I will keep him in my prayers, take care.

My family's thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. It seemed to work for my family now let's make it work for your family.

Prayers going up!

Hope everything is better since your last post. You have our prayers....

Glad to hear that your dad is responding to treatment....here's to hoping the good news continues.... :)

Great news! It looks like he is going to make it. The doctors said it was a mild stroke, but he seems to be recovering nicely. They have to keep him a few days for observation and some more tests. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Great news we will keep praying.Praying does work.

I don't know what to think of those doctors.
Now they are saying it wasn't a stroke, but a mild heart attack. At first the tests were negative when they were looking for that enzyme. When they took his blood again, it showed up elevated and the other tests they did after that showed up positive. His regular doctor cleared everything up. It's hard to get straight answers when you have to talk to 50 different people. He is stable and doing fine, but they are talking about moving him to a differnt hospital that is better equipped for heart patients. They want to do another cathiterization (however you spell it) to see how bad the blockage is. The last time they did one, he was over 90% blocked and they were going to do a series of bypasses, but he elected not to have the surgery done because of the risks involved. He has memory trouble as it is (vascular dementia) and the doctor said there was a great chance of it becomming far worse if he had the surgery done. My dad didn't want to not be able to recognize anyone or for that matter not even know who he was so he has been treated with different medications. He has been taking part in a chelation study which they believe is capable of removing plaque. This test will certainly prove if it has been working or not. I'll keep in touch and let you know how it goes.

Sorry to hear that. My grandmother is going through something similar right now but the doctors are saying soon she wiill probally come home. Hope your dad can too.

Thanks for the update. I can imagine the frustration you're going through. Keep us posted. We'll keep praying.

It is frustrating, especially now. He didn't pass his stress test, so they are not going to send him to the other hospital. It gets even worse. Now they said it wasn't really a heart attack but angina sp? that was causing him his chest pain and nausea. He was talking pretty normal Thursday night. Friday morning, his speech was a little slurred, but he seemed ok so I went into work. When I got back yesterday evening, he couldn't even make words anymore. They are saying that either late Thursday night or early Friday morning he had a stroke. They didn't come to this conclusion until after I went to work thinking things were fine. Not long after I got there, he was motioning that he needed to go to the restroom. A nurse helped him in there and then back into his bed. Not five minutes after he was back in his bed, he started violently jerking all over. I ran and grabbed a nurse. In about another minute, he stopped jerking. The nurse told me she thought he had a seizure. If I hadn't been in there, nobody would have even known because he couldn't call for help. The nurse called his doctor and after she talked to him, he asked to speak to me. Because of that seizure, he ordered an immediate CT scan. I wonder how long they would have waited before checking his head, if they would have even checked it if they hadn't known about the seizure. I believe it was meant for me to be there when I was. They found a big blood clot in his brain that they think was caused by the stroke and that is why they think he had the seizure. They can do surgery to remove the clot, but due to his heart, there are many risks involved. If nothing is done, it could be absorbed over time, eventually liquify and they just have to make a small hole to drain it, or it could get worse and kill him or make him comotose sp? He cannot function well enough to let us know if he would rather risk the surgery or wait and see what happens. My brothers and I hold his health care power of attourney and it has been left up to us to decide. Since my dad was on blood thinners, they couldn't risk doing the surgery last night. If he is going to have it done, they want to do it this evening or tomorrow at the latest. We have to give them an answer in about three hours from now. We all seem to think that the surgery is probably his best option for surviving and for his speech to return since the clot is on the left side of his brain that just happens to control speech. He is also ignoring his right side. He can move his right arm and leg when asked to, but not much. And just in case somebody doesn't know, to avoid confusion, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body so the surgery should correct that as well. It is a very hard decision to make, because they took him off the blood thinners before the CT scan just in case he was bleeding somewhere ( which of course he had been) and they have to keep him off of them to do the surgery. This alone puts his heart in danger not to mention the damage that has already been done to his heart. Like I said, we all seem to agree to have it done so I am leaving now to get back over there. If I don't write back for a couple of days, it means we had the surgery done and are still at the hospital with him. I will at least pop in on Monday to give you an update.

Thanks for the update, I know that you will do the correct thing for your dad. I had something like that with my mom, when she had her stroke. It is a very hard thing to handle when you have to make those calls for your Dad or Mom.

Know that we are thinking about you Dad and your family.

Sorry It's taken a few days for me to get back to you. After weighing all the risks and most likely outcomes, we didn't have the surgery done. He was off his blood thinners which would have put his heart in a greater risk than it would have been. He fell Saturday and they said he had pneumonia. They called at 2:30am Monday morning and said he had got worse. He was stable by the time I got back over to the hospital. He actually started forming words and even said he was hungry. They gave him a swallow test and he passed so now he is able to eat soft foods. He seems to be doing much better which suggests that the clot is going down or at least the pressure is going down on the left side of his brain. They said he probably only has maybe a month to live with all that is wrong with him, so all we can do is try to make him comfortable for what time he has left. He still has a chance to pull out of it so I am trying to be optomistic about it. He is going to have to go into a full time care facility when he leaves the hospital in a few days, but fortunately it is one close to home so the family can visit him every day. At least, I am going to. Once again, thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Wow. My heart really goes out to you and the family. We'll keep praying, of course, and let your Dad know we're thinking about him.

Hang in there Jab and remember we're all pulling for him.

He passed away at 7:30 this morning. At least he is no longer suffering. He was in a lot of pain the past few days. He is with God now. Thank you all for your support.

I am so sorry. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Prayers for peace and comfort. Condolences for your loss.

We're very, very sad for your loss.

My condolences. May God comfort you and your family in your time of sorrow.

I'm truly sorry for your loss Jabr...You're absolutely right, he's no longer suffering, and that's a blessing. I wish you and you family a speedy trip through this grief... 7i87,m7t8

My family wishes to pass on our condolences and we which that God comfort you and your family in your time of sorrow.

If you don't mind I would like to pass on a little saying that I received when my mother passed away very simular to your father.

HIS GARDEN

God looked around His garden and He found an empty place. He then looked down upon this earth and saw your tired face. He put His arms around you and lifted him to rest. God's garden must be beautiful He always takes the best. He knew that you were suffering. He knew you were in pain. He knew that you would never get well on earth again. He saw the road was getting rough and the hills were hard to climb. So He closed weary eyelids and whispered, "peace be thine." It broke our hearts to lose you but you didn't go alone. For part of us went with you the day God called you home!

Again, we are thinking about you and your family. I hope this saying gives you a little comfort in this very difficult time.