Back in the Hospital Again

Dad is back in the hospital again. He never did start eating again after getting out of the hospital. Obviously, he was eating some, but not very much at any meal. He’s also been very lethargic, not very talkative – and when he does talk he’s harder to understand than usual. The other day the doctor came in and said that he thought Dad was anemic because he was so pale. So they started running tests and were going to start him on Iron and some different vitamins. Then they started talking that he might need a transfusion and I started wondering. See anemic is lack of iron in the blood. Transfusion is not enough blood. Quantity vs. Quality. Yes, I’m aware that if you don’t have enough blood then you’re going to be anemic. My point is: If he doesn’t have enough blood, where the hell is it going?

So yesterday I called and talked to the director of nursing at the home to find out what the hell was going on. She said that they’d done some bloodwork and that his hemoglobin came back critical, and that they had found blood in his stool that day (they usually do a 3 day test to make sure there’s an actual problem and that was the first day of testing), and that his doctor wanted to run more tests next week.

NEXT WEEK? Dad’s telling me that he thinks he should go to the hospital (so you KNOW he feels bad), his hemoglobin is half of what it’s supposed to be – apparently that’s the how much blood you have test – and he has blood in his stool. Can we say BLEEDING INTERNALLY? The nurse told me they were still talking to the doctor and I told her that I wanted Dad in the hospital immediately.

So, the hospital gave him a couple of units of blood last night and admitted him. Today they will be testing to determine where the bleeding is coming from. They believe it may be upper GI, and one doctor came in asking about the asprin and naproxin that he takes, so that may be an issue as well.

He’s not in any danger of dying or anything, but if we’d waited around for this doctor he could have been. I think I need to find another doctor for him, but there’s only so many who go to nursing homes to see patients. I guess I’ll start talking to doctors in the area to see what my options are.

I talked to him this morning and he's already ready to go home so he can have a cigarette. Must mean he's feeling a little better.