September 8th Day 5 Post Op.

The last 24 hours have been a roller coaster, one that has been far harder for Keith than it has for me. Yesterday Dad was very confused and emotional and Keith had a bit of an evening trying to settle things down and help him understand what was going on. It all started after he was disturbed by a loud crash in the ICU and it woke him with a start, from then on he didn't know where he was or what was going on.
From the info on the net it seems that this is a fairly common thing to happen but upsetting for everyone none the less. Keith managed with the assistance of several members of staff to calm him down and he went off to sleep. Keith got called back around midnight and ended up staying with him until 4am, when he finally settled.
This morning they were able to take him off a few more machines and get him out of bed into the arm chair, he stood up but was very light headed, but at least he managed it.

The strange thing about looking into confusion after operations is that there is loads of info and it is very common, one particular info sheet could have been describing Dad. There are lots of triggers but it seems dad had been subject to just about all of the major ones, 1. serious heart op. 2. a spell on a heart lung bypass machine, 3. low oxygen levels, 4. previous occurrence. 5. large number of conflicting drugs, 6. lack of mobility (unable to get up due to the first 5!!) I can't explain how scary it is because you see him come through the operation and then it appears that he has gone mad, shouting at people, upset, confused. We were wondering if they had damaged his brain in the process.

The other strange thing is just how quickly things can turn around, they were able to take the oxygen away plus all bar two tubes today and he's a different person, so different that they have moved him onto a high dependency ward this afternoon.

Small steps forward, hopefully on his way home soon.