My step-father is in the hospital. We didn't even know for 2 weeks.
Finally, his one son-in-law convinced the family to call us. After all, as he said, they would be upset if it was my mom and we didn't call them. Ralph had said he would call Cathi, but then didn't and no one thought to check.
He had to have open heart surgery and is on a ventilator. Then be put in an induced coma as they waited to give him a pace maker. That went in this past Thursday. The weird thing is: even with the pace maker, he's in defib. Isn't that what the pace maker corrects?
Two of my sisters and I went to see him on Friday; I braced myself for the worst he could look, so what he actually looked like was better. He wasn't in the coma anymore, but of course is pretty out of it. He recognized us and wanted to talk, but couldn't with the ventilator. So we told him to stay quiet while we talked. Gerry brought an angel my mom had bought her for bad times, and she put it on the table near him so "Mom can watch over you".
We stayed about an hour, until other people came to visit. We didn't want to overtax Ralph and let him know we'd visit again soon. He kept struggling to say something, even trying to reach out with his hand. I told him that I knew he was trying to say he loved us, and he didn't have to worry. We knew he did and we loved him too. Gerry and Cathi were so scared seeing him, that I worried he picked up on it. So I rubbed his frown lines away, told him he didn't need to think bad thoughts because he was going to come out of this strong again.
His son told us today that he's doing better. More awake and better color.
He had to have open heart surgery and is on a ventilator. Then be put in an induced coma as they waited to give him a pace maker. That went in this past Thursday. The weird thing is: even with the pace maker, he's in defib. Isn't that what the pace maker corrects?
Two of my sisters and I went to see him on Friday; I braced myself for the worst he could look, so what he actually looked like was better. He wasn't in the coma anymore, but of course is pretty out of it. He recognized us and wanted to talk, but couldn't with the ventilator. So we told him to stay quiet while we talked. Gerry brought an angel my mom had bought her for bad times, and she put it on the table near him so "Mom can watch over you".
We stayed about an hour, until other people came to visit. We didn't want to overtax Ralph and let him know we'd visit again soon. He kept struggling to say something, even trying to reach out with his hand. I told him that I knew he was trying to say he loved us, and he didn't have to worry. We knew he did and we loved him too. Gerry and Cathi were so scared seeing him, that I worried he picked up on it. So I rubbed his frown lines away, told him he didn't need to think bad thoughts because he was going to come out of this strong again.
His son told us today that he's doing better. More awake and better color.
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