Alright, after probably standing in the shower for half an hour not really doing much else (it's been sort of a draining week, it's turned out), I'm out and I wanna fill this in while I get a quick bite before seeing my dad again at the hospital.
Here's the deal:
At about 5:30pm on New Year's Day, my dad passed out and collapsed after feeling light-headed. He fell forward hard, and along with the general falling damage he also took some really bad cuts on the left side of his face from his eyeglasses. There was a lot of blood, and by the time I saw him he was pretty messy as were his clothes (though not the "buckets" that would REALLY cause concern re: blood loss). He was only unconscious for a couple minutes, but of course once he came to he was very confused and in lots of pain.
After getting the call from my uncle in Calgary of all people about it (my dad's girlfriend didn't have my current number, so she called him), I called my brothers and headed to the hospital.
My dad's left eye was swollen shut, he was still bleeding from the cuts a little, and he was always repeating that he felt weak. Understandably, his face and his neck were in pain. He also had a lot of blood in his sinus cavity and nose, which was making it hard for him to breathe for a while. He was also worried because he said his "heart was beating funny"; the whole time he was hooked up to the screens, his heart rate would randomly drop for a couple seconds.
Anyway, I'll cut the details. The good side of things is that the fall damage should heal up fine. Beyond a small fracture under his eye that will need to be repaired eventually, the cuts were stitched up and bandaged, his eye was still intact and fine, and his CT scan came out clean. Likewise, the swelling in his eye will of course go down in time. Once he started coughing/spitting/vomiting out the last bits of blood in his system, he was also talking and breathing a lot easier. He was actually much better over the course of the four hours I was there - talking faster, moving around more, not feeling cold, even cracking a smile here and there (he even snuck in a cell phone call to his brother to tell him he was okay). So on that note, he'll be okay and has been patching up well.
What REALLY worries everyone, of course, is why he fell in the first place. My dad had a heart attack a few years ago and does have a history of heart and respiratory stuff like sleep apnea and such. Also, the past couple weeks he's had a really bad cough that has left him short of breath a lot. The dropping heart issues are still really mysterious right now, and that's where the priority is for him.
Anyway, last night a bit past midnight my dad's girlfriend called me to say he was transferred to a room - the regular wards had no more beds, so they put him in ICU for now. He was also on morphine, which is probably also a plus (I get the feeling he couldn't wait for the tests to stop so he could get some painkillers and some food).
Heck of a way to start a new year, I know.
So that's my end of things. I'm gonna go see how he's doing now . . .
. . . that said, guys, I don't want you to feel bad or anything about this or for me. Am I worried? Of course I am, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. Just saying that last night I had a friend feel kinda bad because she wasn't able to cheer me up about it - lots of reasons why it wasn't working, but ultimately that's not what I was looking for. I appreciate the concern and I'll be sure to tell my dad that everyone's wishing him well.
But y'know, we're allowed to feel worried at times like this. That's not a bad thing. Heh, trust me, I'm probably feeling a lot better than my dad is right now. I'll be fine.
