As I told dad, I've tried writing this post several times, started to cry and deleted it.
The trip dad and I took to South Dakota ended up being more than we ever would have thought.
Dad and I left on the 9th about 6 am. We got to Lake Norden and stopped in to see Gramma, had Ronnie forward his mail to the nursing home, had him sign the papers for me to be his medical power of attorney, wash his new clothes, pack his bag for the hospital and went over with Ronnie what to expect the next day.
Dad and I got up about 5 am Thursday to head to Lake Norden to pick up Ronnie, we had stayed in Arlington, and head to Sioux Falls. Of course...CONSTRUCTION!!! I have to say, the directions to anything on the hospital campus more than stink. We went to the wrong location two times before we finally found where to go.
The surgery on his foot went well. They fused his foot in two different places, grafted an era of the tendon on the inside of his foot that had stretched and torn, released some of the tightness in his Achilles tendon and put a screw in the bottom of his foot through his ankle to provide extra strength.
We met Ronnie in his room after he spent time in recovery. He told them he had no pain. I soon learned that Ronnie has other terms for pain. Once I learned this, I passed it on to each nurse he had. For the record, my uncle is a very brave person who, despite the awful pain he truly had to be in, only requested a pain pill a couple of times.
Friday morning, I was coming out of the bathroom after getting dressed. (I spent each night with him in the hospital, not only so he would not be afraid, but to be sure he was well taken care of.) As I came out, Ronnie said something and I couldn't understand what he said. I turned around and asked him to repeat it. When he spoke, it sounded like his tongue was swollen, as he was speaking, he held up his right hand. I saw that his thumb had folded in to his palm and his fingers were folded over his thumb.
I went over to him, asked him if he could open his hand. He couldn't. I opened his hand and right away, they folded back to the position they were in just before. I put my index finger in the palm of his right hand, told him to hold my other index finger with his left hand and squeeze both hands at the same time. The left worked, the right didn't.
I then went out to get the nurse. Soon, the room was filled with people asking Ronnie questions. I stepped in, stated I could answer any questions they might have. The next thing I knew, we were off to have a CT scan. The scan showed that his left carotid artery was blocked 75-85% causing him to have a "slight stroke". I'm so thankful that I was there when this happened. Given his special condition, someone may have thought that when he had spoken with the "swollen tongue", it was normal for him to sound like that.
Later in the day, Friday, we had a cardiology consult. He felt that Ronnie should have surgery to clear the artery. Dad, Ronnie and I all agreed that surgery was best. We also agreed, along with mom, that gramma should not know about what had happened. She was already worried about him having the surgery on his foot, to tell her about the new events, we felt, would be more than she could handle.
Saturday morning, they did another CT scan, but this time with a contrast dye. It showed the same thing as Friday morning. Another cardiologist came by and wasn't sure if Ronnie should have the surgery. He wanted Ronnie to have another CT scan on Sunday morning. I told Ronnie he was going to have to ride "through the doughnut" again the next morning.
The third CT showed what the other two had already shown. For what ever reason, the cardiologist we saw on Friday, who was the surgeon, couldn't agree with the cardiologist, who was the physician, we saw Saturday on what the best course of action was.
Dad and I stressed the fact that we wanted to have it taken care of while he was already in the hospital versus having him come back at a later time to have the problem fixed. We felt we were lucky that nothing more serious happened and since grampa had had three heart attacks it was important to do what ever was needed as soon as possible. We said several prayers and Monday morning the two of them agreed surgery was the best thing to do.
He was transferred to the heart hospital in Sioux Falls. As soon as we got there, they took him to surgery. Everything went well except his blood pressure was all over the place, which is not unusual after surgery.
Tuesday came, and they wanted to release Ronnie to go to the nursing home. I became a "slight" squeaky wheel and they decided to keep him until Wednesday. Honestly, I pointed out the fact that in less than a week, Ronnie had two big surgeries, he didn't look like someone who should be released, his blood pressure was still all over the map, (even with meds), had only one meeting with the physical therapy people, (whom he saw when dad and I weren't there) so no one was really sure how to transfer him not to mention the fact that he was going to the going to have to ride for more than an hour to get to the nursing home.
Vicki, the nurse practitioner, bless her heart, saw where I was coming from. She said they had looked at him from a cardiac stand point and not from an overall stand point. She also said she was proud of me for sticking up for Ronnie and not backing down. I was doing what I had promised gramma, I was looking out for Ronnie.
Wednesday morning came and Ronnie looked so much better. Vicki said she couldn't believe how much better he seemed to be. The wheel chair van came to pick him up and we were headed back to Norden. Gramma was so happy to see him! We explained what had happened on Friday morning and she said she understood why everyone told her Ronnie had stayed in the hospital longer to get better pain control for his foot.
Thursday, dad and I moved Ronnie's computer, TV, phone and other belongings he wanted to the nursing home. Thankfully, his room is close to the nurses station. He has to have a bed alarm when he's in bed and an alarm on his wheel chair when he is in it. He sometimes forgets he needs to call for assistance when he needs to use the bathroom. He isn't supposed to put any weight on the left foot due to the surgery and the episode from Friday left his right side a little weak.
Dad and I hit the road for home Thursday about 4:30 pm. Since we had thought we would only be gone for two days and had only packed enough close for two days. Luckily, hospital had a kind of "family house" where you could rent a room and had laundry facilities as well.
Needless to say, dad and I are happy to be home and glad our "two day" adventure is over.
