OK. I think I am up to this, so...
Monday night, Rory was throwing up from midnight until about 6 AM. Pretty constant. If he swallowed anything, it came back up. Even water. His sugars were having problems, going very low, since he wasn't able to eat. Around 8 AM Tuesday morning, he was hurting a lot, and had 2mg of dilaudid. He went to sleep, and never really woke up. I could rouse him, but only for a few seconds. He would say things that didn't make sense, and then drop back asleep.
David showed up at the hospital, and tried to get his dad to wake up. Rory did say "Hey guy" to David, but dropped back off again.
Around 1:30, we left for a few hours to pick up Diana and for me to get an hour's sleep at home. I did get a little sleep, but woke up around 4:30 PM, and called the hospital to speak with the dialysis nurse who had been with Rory since I left. She told me that Rory had not spoken to her at all (Really odd, since he talks with her a lot normally), and that he really hadn't moved (also really odd). The alarms went off, and I took a quick shower, got dressed and got back to the hospital around 6 PM.
When I got there, Rory was unconscious. Dialysis was just ending, and we gave him Narcan, thinking he might be having problems with the dilaudid. Didn't really make a difference (if you have ever seen Narcan work, people wake up QUICKLY).
I called the house, and asked my brother to bring David and Diana to the hospital NOW. Which he did.
We took him down for a stat head CT, to see if he had any bleeding in his brain, since his INR was very high. Nope. No signs of a brain bleed. He was then taken to the ICU. Once he was settled, I went in for a little while. At one point, I got him to look at me, and aksed him if he was hurting at all. He opened his eyes *really wide*, then closed them again. I can only assume that he was hurting so bad! His BP was too low to really give him anything at that moment for the pain.
When David and Diana came in, he tried to turn over, but his legs didn't seem to be working. We got him on his side, and he seemed much more comfortable. When David, and then Diana, say next to him facing him, he reached out his hand to touch them (these were separate times). He couldn't talk at all. But he looked toward them and touched them. I think he was saying goodbye to them during those moments. After they left around 9:00 PM, he never moved again, or opened his eyes. I spoke to him during the night, and told him I loved him so much, and I thanked him for our wonderful children, and for the last 20 some years together.
I allowed him to be put on a ventilator around 11:00 PM, since he was hardly breathing. He had absolutely no gag reflex at all when they put in the ET tube. And he needed maximum dopamine to keep his blood pressure up to minimums.
He began bleeding from his rectum around this time. His white cell counts were very high, a mark of a major infection. And his liver function tests were very abnormal. And he still had a fever. It was clear to me he was shutting down.
He made it until morning, but his blood pressure was continuing to drop. Several times, none could be found, and his pulses in his wrists were absent. His hands were getting very cold and purple. I called home and talked with Diana, and told her to wake up Steve and have him bring her and David down immediately. She asked me why, and I told her that I was pretty sure he was dying. She told me, "Mom, I am not ready!", and I told her none of us are. They got there pretty quickly.
By 9:00 AM, we decided to stop the dopamine drip. His blood pressure by then was unreadable anyway. He slowly slipped away from us, and at 10:20, he was gone. Each of the kids had a chance before he died to say goodbye, and David spoke to him privately (Diana didn't want to speak privately to him, but did so with us there). I am still struggling to deal with his death, and probably will for a long time. But David, Diana, Steve, and I will help each other to cope and move on.
I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of our struggle to get Rory reinstated on the sodium thiosulfate, although it never did happen. Thank you again.
Monday night, Rory was throwing up from midnight until about 6 AM. Pretty constant. If he swallowed anything, it came back up. Even water. His sugars were having problems, going very low, since he wasn't able to eat. Around 8 AM Tuesday morning, he was hurting a lot, and had 2mg of dilaudid. He went to sleep, and never really woke up. I could rouse him, but only for a few seconds. He would say things that didn't make sense, and then drop back asleep.
David showed up at the hospital, and tried to get his dad to wake up. Rory did say "Hey guy" to David, but dropped back off again.
Around 1:30, we left for a few hours to pick up Diana and for me to get an hour's sleep at home. I did get a little sleep, but woke up around 4:30 PM, and called the hospital to speak with the dialysis nurse who had been with Rory since I left. She told me that Rory had not spoken to her at all (Really odd, since he talks with her a lot normally), and that he really hadn't moved (also really odd). The alarms went off, and I took a quick shower, got dressed and got back to the hospital around 6 PM.
When I got there, Rory was unconscious. Dialysis was just ending, and we gave him Narcan, thinking he might be having problems with the dilaudid. Didn't really make a difference (if you have ever seen Narcan work, people wake up QUICKLY).
I called the house, and asked my brother to bring David and Diana to the hospital NOW. Which he did.
We took him down for a stat head CT, to see if he had any bleeding in his brain, since his INR was very high. Nope. No signs of a brain bleed. He was then taken to the ICU. Once he was settled, I went in for a little while. At one point, I got him to look at me, and aksed him if he was hurting at all. He opened his eyes *really wide*, then closed them again. I can only assume that he was hurting so bad! His BP was too low to really give him anything at that moment for the pain.
When David and Diana came in, he tried to turn over, but his legs didn't seem to be working. We got him on his side, and he seemed much more comfortable. When David, and then Diana, say next to him facing him, he reached out his hand to touch them (these were separate times). He couldn't talk at all. But he looked toward them and touched them. I think he was saying goodbye to them during those moments. After they left around 9:00 PM, he never moved again, or opened his eyes. I spoke to him during the night, and told him I loved him so much, and I thanked him for our wonderful children, and for the last 20 some years together.
I allowed him to be put on a ventilator around 11:00 PM, since he was hardly breathing. He had absolutely no gag reflex at all when they put in the ET tube. And he needed maximum dopamine to keep his blood pressure up to minimums.
He began bleeding from his rectum around this time. His white cell counts were very high, a mark of a major infection. And his liver function tests were very abnormal. And he still had a fever. It was clear to me he was shutting down.
He made it until morning, but his blood pressure was continuing to drop. Several times, none could be found, and his pulses in his wrists were absent. His hands were getting very cold and purple. I called home and talked with Diana, and told her to wake up Steve and have him bring her and David down immediately. She asked me why, and I told her that I was pretty sure he was dying. She told me, "Mom, I am not ready!", and I told her none of us are. They got there pretty quickly.
By 9:00 AM, we decided to stop the dopamine drip. His blood pressure by then was unreadable anyway. He slowly slipped away from us, and at 10:20, he was gone. Each of the kids had a chance before he died to say goodbye, and David spoke to him privately (Diana didn't want to speak privately to him, but did so with us there). I am still struggling to deal with his death, and probably will for a long time. But David, Diana, Steve, and I will help each other to cope and move on.
I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of our struggle to get Rory reinstated on the sodium thiosulfate, although it never did happen. Thank you again.
Labels: Family
posted by First On Scene EMS at Thursday, July 29, 2004
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