Hi everyone, We thought this would be an easy way to stay in contact with everyone and update you on how Dad is doing. What we were told is that his blood thinners thinned out his blood a bit too much and it made him very dizzy. As a result, he had two hard falls. The first fall happened a little over a week ago. He dropped something and when he went to pick it up, he tipped forward and fell onto the sidewalk. He was pretty sore after that fall but seemed to be doing ok. A few days later (Wednesday the 9th) my parents were getting ready to go pick the dog up from doggy daycare and as he was going through the back gate, Dad fell again. No one saw him fall so we are not exactly sure what happened. He did say that he remembers being dizzy. My mom found him right after he fell and as he was in a lot of pain, they called the paramedics who took him to the VA.
The first CAT scan showed the brain bleeds. They ran blood work at that point and discovered that his blood was too thin. They gave him plasma and there was talk of a transfusion (but I am not sure if that happened or not) to thicken up his blood. The second CAT scan later that night showed a little more bleeding but it was not significant enough to warrant surgery. The third CAT scan showed that the bleeding had stopped. They had wanted to do an MRI but they were unable due to the shrapnel that he has in his eye from his Marine Corps days. He is passing all of his neuro checks and his team were pretty confident that he did not have a stroke.
They did an xray yesterday and confirmed that he has four broken ribs on his left side. He is in major pain, both from the ribs and a constant headache. There seems to be a level of confusion - most likely a combination from the brain bleeds as well as the pain meds. He is answering questions and talking a bit. He was aware that my mom was wearing her new shirt and laughed when Leah joked about mom sneaking a new puppy into the house. He is sleeping a lot but they are getting him up into a chair for longer periods of time. If you would like to visit him, he is at the VA hospital on the 3rd Floor K, in room 129. The phone is in a weird place so he might not be able to answer it if you try to call, but, I am sure he would love a visit - just be patient with him. Thank you for keeping Tom and Cheryl in your prayers!
I wish that I was passing on better news but my dad passed away this morning bout 11am. Thank you all for prayers and love. Being that it is a holiday weekend we won' have any information on funeral arrangements before Tuesday.
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