ICU

Things are not going well, Dad was transferred to the ICU today.

We couldn't get a hold of him this morning, so my Grandparents called the nurse station and found out that his blood sugar was 21 and he was unresponsive when they found him this morning (80-120 is normal blood sugar level), not good, he clearly should not have been left on the renal floor, he needed to be in ICU where he can get the care he needs. One of us should have stayed with him last night.

Soon after we got there they were still trying to get him stabilized with his sugars in the 30's, but he was responsive. When I walked in I could tell things were rough, the floor had medical garbage all over, his blanket's had been thrown in the corner. Luckily Grandma brought some apple juice with her, we got him to drink the little cup of orange juice the nurse had and then the apple juice.
The nurse came back after the second blood check and let us know they were moving him to ICU, thank God!

They checked him right before they transferred him and blood sugar was up to 107 which is good.

Once they got him settled in ICU we went in, and that's where I spent most of the day.

He has pneumonia now is his left lung, he is on antibiotics for that. His kidney functioning is a little worse, today, not my much though. He is getting blood sugar checks frequently and they keep giving him sugar through the IV. Being dehydrated from the diarrhea and the lack of eating and insulin is making it hard to control the sugar level.

Urine output is good, so we are hoping that damage this is doing to his kidney will resolve once the dust settles on everything else. When we know the number tomorrow if it is better than great, go on treating hte infection. If the number goes up more (normal for keratin is 2, he is closing in on 5) then they will start dialysis and go from there. Whether we are talking about short-term dialysis vs. long term and on the transplant list is yet to be seen.

Once he is out of ICU, and on a regular medical floor he will then be discharged to a rehab facility, one that does Dialysis just in case. He will be there for 7-14 days. This has been going on for a week now and he is very weak and will need some help getting back up to functioning.

So yea, not the best New Years Eve, almost 12 years to the date of the last time he was this seriously ill, I remember it very clearly because we didn't think he was going to make it (and I had just started dating Matt) but as always he pulled through. I know he can do it again.

Prayers are much appreciated and needed.