(no subject)
As most of you all know, my mom and dad for a two week holiday throughout Europe. The plan was to spend a few days with friends, then a week long cruise off the coast of Spain, leading up to a last few days in Barcelona.
However, the vacation didn't make it past the first morning. From everything I understand, the first morning he woke up, he collapsed to the ground. This process repeated itself and resulted in him staying in bed all that day. The next morning, when things hadn't improved, he was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lungs. His oxygen level was quite low and he was extremely fatigued.
In order to treat the blood clot, blood thinners is the standard course to take. However, in this case, the blood thinners produced a high risk of rupturing the tumors in his brain, which had recently been radiated on. But the treatment had to be given. Without treatment, the blood clot in his lungs could prove fatal.
...and then our fears were confirmed. The lesions ruptured and he began to bleed into his brain. I am unsure of exactly what treatment was given to him, but when it was all said and done, he became stable, but had become mostly paralyzed on the left side of his body.
At about 2pm on Sunday the 11th, I received this news. By 6pm, I had my brother Amir on a flight, and I was on one by 7pm. The two of us met up in New York and flew out to London together. 7 hours later, we were there. We went straight to the hospital to see my dad, and I really think that us being here has made a difference for him.
From what my mother has told me, us being here has livened his spirits. His condition is very up and down. Obviously, the whole thing is bad; everything is all wrong. But we know that, and so we try to celebrate the small victories. For instance, his spirits are raised by us being here. And today, despite being put on morphine to relieve the pain he was experiencing in his shoulder, he still managed to crack a little joke, demanding a cookie to go with the milk they were telling him to drink.
He was transferred back to his original hospital today. The past couple of days has been spent at a hospital specifically for the potential purpose of neurosurgery. When it was decided that doing any surgery was too risky, he was taken back, which we were all very happy about. Here, they know his history, we're comfortable with the people, and we've secured him a better room with more light in it.
He is still in pain, his left side still doesn't work, and he is very out of it, but the bleeding and swelling in his brain has gone down, so we took him off the steroids. Now the plan is to go back to slowly working in the blood thinners to take care of the clot. If we can do that, we can bring him home. Some doctors say that may happen in 7-10 days, and some are not nearly so hopeful. We just want to get him home, and so we're keeping our fingers crossed.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers; they truly are appreciated. If you have anything you'd like me to share with him or my family, please comment so I can pass your words on to them.
Take care,
~ Robin
However, the vacation didn't make it past the first morning. From everything I understand, the first morning he woke up, he collapsed to the ground. This process repeated itself and resulted in him staying in bed all that day. The next morning, when things hadn't improved, he was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lungs. His oxygen level was quite low and he was extremely fatigued.
In order to treat the blood clot, blood thinners is the standard course to take. However, in this case, the blood thinners produced a high risk of rupturing the tumors in his brain, which had recently been radiated on. But the treatment had to be given. Without treatment, the blood clot in his lungs could prove fatal.
...and then our fears were confirmed. The lesions ruptured and he began to bleed into his brain. I am unsure of exactly what treatment was given to him, but when it was all said and done, he became stable, but had become mostly paralyzed on the left side of his body.
At about 2pm on Sunday the 11th, I received this news. By 6pm, I had my brother Amir on a flight, and I was on one by 7pm. The two of us met up in New York and flew out to London together. 7 hours later, we were there. We went straight to the hospital to see my dad, and I really think that us being here has made a difference for him.
From what my mother has told me, us being here has livened his spirits. His condition is very up and down. Obviously, the whole thing is bad; everything is all wrong. But we know that, and so we try to celebrate the small victories. For instance, his spirits are raised by us being here. And today, despite being put on morphine to relieve the pain he was experiencing in his shoulder, he still managed to crack a little joke, demanding a cookie to go with the milk they were telling him to drink.
He was transferred back to his original hospital today. The past couple of days has been spent at a hospital specifically for the potential purpose of neurosurgery. When it was decided that doing any surgery was too risky, he was taken back, which we were all very happy about. Here, they know his history, we're comfortable with the people, and we've secured him a better room with more light in it.
He is still in pain, his left side still doesn't work, and he is very out of it, but the bleeding and swelling in his brain has gone down, so we took him off the steroids. Now the plan is to go back to slowly working in the blood thinners to take care of the clot. If we can do that, we can bring him home. Some doctors say that may happen in 7-10 days, and some are not nearly so hopeful. We just want to get him home, and so we're keeping our fingers crossed.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers; they truly are appreciated. If you have anything you'd like me to share with him or my family, please comment so I can pass your words on to them.
Take care,
~ Robin