Thursday, March 13th – 8:00PM

We finally talked to the doctor. He says that the CT scan shows that the bleeding has continued and the volume of blood had increased. This was the second CT scan – he had one when he was admitted – so, they don’t know if the bleeding had slowed. They only know that it had continued between the first and second scans. The doctor says that the vitamin K should have reversed the effects of the Coumadin; but, the Plavix may take as long as a week to metabolize out of his system. We had to decide tonight to put my dad on a respirator. According to the surgeon, his sleep apnea is really complicating his ability to heal. The sleep apnea causes his blood pressure to spike and drop, as his body dealt with periods of no breathing. The fluctuations in blood pressure make it more difficult for his body to form a clot and stop further bleeding. On top of that, the apnea impairs his oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange, which impairs his body’s ability to heal, in general. The surgeon says that we should do this now, rather than wait for an emergency to arise. So, my mom, Lori and I didn’t hesitate to give permission to intubate him.