Latest on Roger & Harvey Sr

Well, Roger's MEB process officially started last week. He had a bunch of exams yesterday and has been gathering all the paper work needed for his packet. Now he can watch the progress and hopefully help speed it up.

My dad is doing a lot better. All his swelling is down. He feels a lot better but his legs are still weak and tired. He had been exercising his arms and legs to try to get them strong again. But he over did it on Monday. I keep telling him he needs to rest more than exercise but I can understand him wanting to get better. As far as I know, his defibrillator has not gone off yet. Thank goodness.

Please keep Roger & my dad in your prayers.

Update On My Dad

My dad was released from the hospital on Thursday aftenoon. I took him home and got him all settled in. Friday I spent the day organizing and rearranging my parents' house so he can get around easier with his walker. He is doing better at home. His spirits are up. He hates hospitals and doctors. He was supposed to get physical therapy to walk him around while he was at the hospital but they never showed up. So he laid for eight days in the hospital and he was pretty swollen from no activity. He walked around the house a lot on Friday and that has helped with the swelling a little. It will take a while for it to all go down. He is taking a pill for water retention and he used the restroom quite a bit Friday. So that will help with the swelling also. He was pretty weak when he got home. He is still weak and tired. But he is trying to walk around and rest to build up his strength and endurance again. He was doing pretty good before he went into the hospital two weeks ago so he believes he can get back to where he was.

He's not too happy about the defibrillator. They didn't tell him anything about it before it was implanted. And after his surgery was done on Wednesday, a rep from the manufacturer came Thursday morning to go over it with him. The rep told him he would not be able to be near a welding machine nor generator. My dad was pretty pissed about that since that's how he makes his living. The rep told him he needed to stay 20 feet or more from those machines. We know he won't be welding for a while, but he was not happy that they didn't tell him everything up front. Also, he can't lift his left arm above his shoulder for one month nor lift anything heavy for 3 months. He couldn't get the incision wet for 48 hours so my mom is going to help him shower this afternoon. I know he's ready for that. He'll need help mainly because he's so weak and gets tired just walking a short distance. He has an appointment next week with Dr. Bond, his internal medicine/PCM and in two weeks he will have his defibrillator checked. My dad's GI had a CT done Wednesday morning of his stomach and abdomen. He hasn't heard the results of that and as soon as we know, I'll post those. I'm glad they are still trying to figure out what's going on with his digestive system. I did find out the two polyps found during the flex sig were removed and as I posted before they were negative for cancer. So...please keep praying for my dad and his health and my family. Thanks again.

Surgery Today

My mom just called me (11:30 a.m. Central) to let me know a defibrillator was going to be implanted in my dad today. My dad told my sister last night that he flat lined nine times while he was in ICU. My mom didn't even know that. My family is not known for good communication. So the defibrillator will monitor his heart rate. It uses batteries to send electric signals to a heart that’s beating too slow, same as a pacemaker. It can also deliver an electric shock to help restore a normal heartbeat to a heart that’s beating chaotically and much too fast.

Last Saturday my dad had a flexible sigmoidoscopy. Two polyps were found and tested for cancer. The results were negative. The doctors said they would go back and probe his stomach also, but I'm not sure how soon this will be done now that he is having the defibrillator implanted today.

My sister and her kids were on their way to the hospital this morning to see my dad. We still don't know what time the surgery will be performed. I am going to Bryan tomorrow morning. I might be able to take my dad home from the hospital. Please keep my dad in your prayers. We knew this would be a long road but I don't think we ever imagined it would be this rough also. I will update early tomorrow morning with the results of his surgery. Thank you so much for praying for my dad and my family.