After yelling at my dad on the phone on Saturday morning because he wanted me to go pick up his medication rather then ask his caregiver I went to his house to discover that really he didn't feel good. My dad is not a complainer, my mom was complainer enough for everyone, and when he says he doesn't feel well he really doesn't.
My daughter and I asked him if he wanted to go to the hospital and he said he did. We then realized that we wouldn't have been able to negotiate the stairs with him so we called 911. The first responders that came were amazing. They all know him because they were out so often with my mom. So they were talking to him and helping him feel comfortable. It was only then that he said that he had fallen the night before.
The paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital. There were 10 large strong men standing around my somewhat frail father in the kitchen. They helped him into the back of the ambulance and we went home to eat something and wait for the hospital to call. Well, during that time all of the phones all went down. We had no idea that this had happened and after an hour or so we decided to head to the hospital to see my dad ourselves.
We walked into the hospital and they said that he had been transferred to ICU at Washington Regional, a hospital an hour away and had bleeding in the brain caused by the fall. After talking to my husband we drove over. The hospital is a new facility with terrific staff and he was healthy looking, calm, and felt so stupid for falling. He was grateful that we came and we visited for 15 minutes and told him we would be back tomorrow.
He is still in ICU and has what is called aphasia. It is like a stroke that effects the speech area of his brain. It is being caused by the large amount of blood on his brain. The hope is that it will absorb into his body. He is 79 and has multiple heart and blood pressure issues so that effects all of this.
Six months ago my mom died and statistically spouses also die. I am not ready for him to go, but I told him that it is his choice. He can decide what he wants to do and either way we love him. These are the hardest conversations I will ever have.
