Last night when I left the hospital Dad was waking up periodically and squeezing the nurse's hand when asked. After I left, though, thing went downhill. Dad started struggling to breathe, and his heart rate and blood pressure went way up. This continued for about an hour and a half with Dad gasping for air the entire time. The nurse then gave him something to sedate him. We're not sure if it was anti anxiety medication, or more of the sedative that they had been tapering. In any event, since then, Dad has been unconscious.
Dad's heart doctor, Dr. Xenopolous came by tonight to check on Dad. When he left he stopped by the waiting room to talk to us. He told us that Dad's heart is fine. He told us that Dad's problem is having trapped air in his lungs. My interpretation is that with such limited lung capacity, Dad's having difficulty getting air out of his lungs. Dr. X wasn't sure why this happens when Dad becomes conscious, although he seemed to feel that it could be due to anxiety. Additionally, Dr. X told us that he doesn't have in his head what the strategy is to get dad conscious and get him off the vent. He made a note to talk to the pulmonologist that's in charge of Dad, Dr. Haller, early next week. Mom's hoping to talk to Dr. Haller about it tomorrow.
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