Monday, January 07, 2008

It is Truly a Miracle!

Before I begin the update on my Father's amazing recovery, first let me apologize for the extended silence. With all the trauma after Thanksgiving on top of trying to finishing up the semester with finals, and then the holidays, I found no time to sit down and blog. That being said, and with the spring semester in commencement preparation I have returned.

When I posted initially concerning my Father, we nor the doctors knew much about what was happening. My Father had not been feeling well the night of Nov. 24 and began exhibiting symptoms of hypoglycemia. To combat this episode of low blood sugar my Mother brought him a root beer and then left the room to get a peppermint. The first part of this miracle was that my Mother was there to help him, the doctors said repeatedly that if he had been alone he would have died. When my Mother returned with the peppermint my Father was sweating profusely and was unable to breath, this was when my Mother call the ambulance and shortly afterwards my Father lost consciousness. After arriving at the emergency room the EMTs told my Mother that my Father had stopped breathing and had no heartbeat in the ambulance and that they had been doing CPR for over 9 minutes. When he got to the hospital the doctors gave my Father all the different types of blood thinners that the hospital had because they suspected a stroke or heart attack, as well as, intubated and placed my Father on a respirator as he was unable to breathe on his own. The next week was very uncertain and frightening because the doctors performed numerous tests but were not really finding anything in order to make a diagnosis. By the end of the week they ruled out a stroke and assumed he had a heart hypoglycemia induced heart attack, the did not however find a clot most likely due to all the blood thinners he was given upon arrival at the hospital. At the end of the week the doctors were able to remove the respirator and feeding tube and my Father was successful at breathing on his own. Although unable to speak because of the tubes that were removed, my Father did recognize everyone that came in to see him and could comprehend what was being said. This is another miracle because brain damage occurs after 4 minutes without oxygen and my Father was without oxygen for over 9 minutes. The next week my Father went home and did not go back to work until the first of the year. He is a very hard worker and good provider for the family, this was the longest vacation he ever had, and the first Christmas he did not have to work on the 26th of December.

I can not thank everyone enough for all the prayers, I know that without them my Father would not be here. All the Praise and Glory be to God the Mighty Healer!

1 comment:

Nicole Bradica said...

SOOOOO Glad to hear that all is okay!! We will definitely continue the prayers for further recovery. Praise God!