Update on Dad.........

I talked to him this afternoon......he sounded so much better than he did last night! He is still most likely going to have to have some sort of surgery. What they are thinking about possibly doing is going in laparoscopically and spraying that sticky stuff all over inside his chest cavity....all over the outside of his lung and inside......etc....while he is under general anesthesia...so they can actually see this time where they are spraying it and making sure all areas are covered. The doctor said dad has so many of those blebs (bubbles) all over his lungs that even if they removed part of it that had burst.....there were too many other blebs that would remain that could still burst so that would not really fix the problem. So it sounds like maybe the best thing next will be to try spraying that stuff all over inside via open incisions and scopes...etc...so they can see where it is going and make sure all areas are covered!

When dad arrived at the hospital his lung was collapsed 30%.....and then soon it was 50%......and finally he moved or something and it collapsed completely. So they had to do a new chest tube....in a new location.....an even BIGGER tube....and this time it is bothering him a lot more than last time. He is still coughing up stuff and afraid to cough as he is afraid his lung will collapse again but they told him to cough up the stuff and now that he has a chest tube in he should not fear his lung will collapse. The tubing to his lung got a kink in it once and cut off the suction and he could not breathe much at all which caused all the ICU team and staff to rush to his room to figure out quickly what was wrong. They finally discovered a kink in the tubing and got that worked out and all was well again.

The tube will be in at least until Monday and soon they will talk about the next step which is probably going to be that procedure in surgery. IF all goes well Dad asked if he might be back home in time for Christmas and the doctor said if all went well and nothing unforeseen happened he should be back home for Christmas.

Dad sounded very thankful he could breathe again and to be honest that he was alive....and I know he as well as all of us appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Keep mom in your prayers too as she is worn out. I swear when she called me real early this morning and her voice was cracking and she said "you are not going to believe this but..." that I did think the worst news was coming next from her mouth to me over the phone but that was not the case. It has been a mix of emotions and strangeness to say the least the last 24-48 hours and mom I am sure is about exhausted.