If you are from the generation before mine then you saw the original “Star Wars” trilogy in the theater. If you’re like me and weren’t born when “A New Hope” was playing on the big screen, then how did you first see it? Well this is the story of my first time… (Read on …)
Dad is out of the hospital. Of course it isn’t because he’s better it’s because he got in a fight with the doctors. They wanted to pull of his medications to see if it would fix one of his problems and he refused. So now dad’s home with pneumonia and with the yucky damp weather I’m really worried about him.
We found out today that Dad has a staph infection, which he caught in the hospital. Also, his blood pressure is dangerously low. Because its so low they are taking him off the antibiotics that are fighting the pneumonia and E.coli (because they lower blood pressure) and are instead giving him a different kind of antibiotic that will fight off the staph infection. Once the staph is gone and his blood pressure is up they will start treating the E.coli and pneumonia again.
Man, its always something right? With the semester having just ended and all this going on, expect the blog to be quiet for a few days.
Mom just called. In addition to a severe case of pneumonia, Dad now has E.coli in his blood and something called pleurisy. Mom says pleurisy is when fluid is stuck between the lungs and the tissue lining the lungs. We also have no idea where the E.coli came from. He just had blood work done at the beginning of last week and it was clear so he either got E.coli in the hospital or right before he went last Wednesday.
Guess who is in the hospital AGAIN. Yep, Dad. This time with Pneumonia in both lungs, and supposedly one is really bad. My sister is all worried that we’ll spend Christmas in the hospital, but we’ve done it before so if we have to, we have to.
Thursday is the last day of my photography class so I’ve spent today and the past weekend getting my final 12 photos done. For the final we had to put together a series of 8 to 12 photos and if you want to see what I did you can go here (note: the above photo is from my second assignment, also I’ll be on campus all day for the next two days).
[Dad in the hospital in August, the last time he had pneumonia]
So Dad was released from the hospital yesterday (Saturday) morning. Last night he had a 103 degrees fever and mom had to take him back to the hospital. He was having severe camping which normally causes him to go septic. Late last night/early this morning, Dad was released again.
About ten minutes mom called to tell me that Dad is once again back in the hospital, this time for pneumonia. The pneumonia was either a strain he’s had that has been dormant and because he’s been sick it’s been able to go full force or it’s a strain he caught while in the hospital.
Mom had just heard back from the doctors about Dad’s x-rays when she called me. She said they were checking him in but didn’t know anything else. So right now I don’t know how serve the pneumonia is or which lung it’s in.
Normally it wouldn’t matter which lung he has pneumonia in, but since he just punctured one of them a few days ago, it could make a huge difference.
So right now I get to play the ‘waiting game’ where I have no power or control of what is going on and I just merely wait to hear how dad is doing.
This is a new high-tech wheel chair from Japan. It’s a “smart” wheel chair that has a 360-degrees camera system. Its electric and the perfect thing for dad because it stops the user from colliding with any objects, including people. It also reads pulse, blood pressure, and other stuff. Then, when the rider needs medical attention, it calls 911. It also monitors postures for the same thing. Even cooler is the fact that the chair is controlled by gesture! All you have to do is point and the chair takes you to wherever you want to go.
Since we are talking about Dad I should say he’s doing much better. As of now there is no sign of infection. He’s just in a lot of pain because they couldn’t give him any more medicine than what he is already on. Plus they said the type of pain is different from the normal kind.
It’s always something with my father. I just saw him when I was home for Uncle Tim’s wedding, but he’s already back in the hospital. The gist of it is that dad blacked out when in the kitchen. He fell on a knife that went in very deep and punctured his right lung. They operated and removed the knife, but now he’s in ICU and the big fear is an infection.
A funny thing is that when in the ambulance, when he was half delirious, Dad asked if anyone had a camera so they could take a photo of the knife sticking out of his chest. He tried to explain to them it’s because I was making a documentary comic book, but he was so out of it that he didn’t make any sense and the paramedics thought he was crazy.
So anyway, pretty nervous and upset. We are just doing the waiting-game where we wait to find out if his body will heal or give out on him.
Yes that’s a real photo, taken last night from our back deck. And here I was worried that the last week of my documentary would be boring. …The power went out and that’s never good when your dad has to be on an oxygen machine.
I just found out that mom, kait, and all the grand kids are going away next week. They are going to Hershey Park Monday through Wednesday or Thursday. This means I’ll be home with dad. I don’t mind really. It will give me time to finish up a lot of interviewing I need to do for the documentary-comic I’m making. It also means I’ll be stuck home all those days.
The other day I downloaded the photos form my phone onto my computer and amongst them were several from when dad was in the hospital. There were three photos one after another that when lined up looked like a dolly movement that a film-camera makes.
This got me to thinking because in a sense the photos looked like a storyboard or a comic book. I started looking over my other photos. I did some google searches. I sent emails out to a few comic book professionals I know.
So now, a few days later I’ve decided that I’m making a documentary-comicbook about Dad. It’s going to span from two days ago until its time for me to go to graduate school.
I know it sounds odd but non-fiction books have a strong following. Lookup “Maus” or “Mom’s Cancner.” Both are amazing graphic novels.
I talked to mom and dad about my idea and both were willing to be my film subjects. I’m shooting it just like a I would a documentary on film, only instead I’m using a regular camera and am dealing with still images.
I’m really excited about this and I think its going to work out well. On top of that I think Dad’s story is an interesting one and one that I want to tell. I also have some emotional stuff I’m trying to sort through and I think this will be a good therapeutic exercise for that.
I know I haven’t updated but its been a crazy ass week here. Dad is home from the hospital. He was there five days or so and he had “aspiration pneumonia.” This happens due to acid reflux or having food go down the windpipe when eating. What happens is that the food or stomach acid gets into the lungs and quickly causes pneumonia.
Since dad normally has pneumonia anyway, the aspiration just made things a billion times worse. He was coughing up this nasty black junk that was oily and gooey.
They had him on antibiotics through an IV for several days and once he was good enough to be taken off that and put onto pill-form-antibiotics they did so and kicked him out of the hospital.
He’s home now but still doing rough. Part of the reason I think is because he’s so damn stubborn. Instead of resting like he should until he is healthier he constantly tries to do things around the house.
The other morning I was writing articles for work (I was kicked out of the office because the new woman started and they are short on space… but hey I’m happy about being able to work from home!) and I kept hearing loud noises. I go into the kitchen and dad was doing dishes. I had to explain to him that I was going to do them later after I finished writing my articles.
About ten minutes later I hear a crash. I go into the kitchen and dad had falling because he was sweeping or something else silly. I had to help him up, get him to bed, and then clean up the mess. He promised me he would lay down and rest.
About fifteen minutes later I hear a thumping sound. I search the house and find dad fallen in the bathroom. He had decided he wanted to do something in there before he laid down again.
It’s soooooooo frustrating!
I understand that its hard for him to be confined to bed or to be told he just needs to lay down and rest, but he sincerely always tries to push himself and do more things around the house whenever he is the sickest!