Thu 7/17/2008 8:10 AM
Good Morning All,
Anna had her cardiac catherization yesterday and all went well. The doctor did not have to put in any stents and she is clean as a whistle. It turns out that the artery in question (I can't remember which one it is, but it is on the left side) has a place that is narrow. It is due to the way God made her. It really isn't a "defect" but as the doctor said, just the way she is.
The doc said that he will just have to watch her so that that spot doesn't collect plaque etc by keeping her bad cholesterol down and her good cholesterol up and keeping her blood pressure normal.
There isn't anything else wrong with her heart. YEA!
So that was great news. She had to stay at the hospital for about 3 hours after the quick (30 minute cath) and we were headed home by 2pm.
Oh, and I have to tell you that I had to feed her lunch because she couldn't sit up at all for a few hours. The nurse tilted her bed so she wouldn't choke but she had to keep her head flat on the pillow.
She ordered a Lobster salad. I joked with her that she was just like Aunt Jay ordering Lobster! and of course I was well trained at feeding someone who can't feed themselves in bed (that would be Mom and Dad). Now Dad would close his eyes and open his mouth like a little baby bird waiting for Momma bird to feed her. We joked about this while I was feeding her.
She is doing well. Thanks again for all the prayers and we can stop worrying about her.
I am still working on getting the funeral pictures posted for you to see. I will let you know when they are up.
Love and hugs to all,
Mary
I never did write an e-mail about the last day of Ed's life. I realize many people didn't know how he passed.
I got a call from the hospital about 10 am on 7/3/08 and the hospital nurse said that Dad's blood pressure was very low. She said it was 54/45 or something like that. I said to her that it was better than it was the night before. I really thought that he was a bit better. In fact we sisters had talked to Tom that night and told him we didn't think that it was time for him to come, and that he would pull out of it as he had done in the past.
I didn't leave work when the nurse called at 10 am since we had planned to be at the hospital at noon to meet with the hospice company. I thought that we would have plenty of time and since his blood pressure was higher than last night, all was fine.
At 10:45 am I got a call from Jerry's Aunt who was visiting Dad at the hospital and she told me Dad looked really bad and that his blood pressure was very low 30/20 and to get up at the hospital right away. She was there with Fred and no one else was there. I told her I would leave immediately. I ran out of work and called Joan to get up to the hospital. Joan was waiting to get up to hospital for the meeting at noon and was preparing the crock pot for our dinner that evening.
I also called Anna and Jerry and told them to get to the hospital ASAP as they were at work too.
I was just getting on the freeway when I got a call from Fred and he said "Mr. Ed isn't breathing, we called the nurse and she is on her way." Again, I didn't panic since Dad had these breathing episodes when he would stop breathing for about a minute and started back up again. No one else called me on my way home. I didn't call Anna and tell her anything else. I figured that would have called me back to tell me that he died.
So I was driving like a mad woman, crying and speeding. All of a sudden, I felt like Dad was in the truck with me and I told him that I was ok and that he would be with Eleanore, his brothers, his sisters and his parents and he would have a great time and he wouldn't be in any pain any more. I instantly had this feeling of calmness, I stopped crying and in that instant, felt that he was gone.
Joan was only 10 minutes away from the hospital and she got there pretty quickly. We figure she was somewhere in the hospital when he passed, only Martha and Fred were with him.
Anna arrived soon after I did and had called talked to Tom on her way and didn't know he had passed. Everyone thought she knew. The only thing she knew was that he was not doing well. So much for our communication.
Anyway, Dad passed without anyone of the kids being with him. I think that he wanted it that way. He passed at 10:55 am Central time, but wasn't pronounced until 12:15pm (the official time on the death certificate).
Again, we kids didn't get either Mom or Dad into a hospice. Mom passed on the official New Year's Day holiday (1/2/06) and hospice was coming the next morning and Dad passed 1 hour before they were to admit him. Strange, neither make it to hospice and maybe they wanted it that way.
Thu 7/3/2008 12:38 PM
Hi to all,
Just wanted to let you know that Ed passed away this morning. We got a call from the staff folks who have been taking such great care of him that his blood pressure had dropped rapidly. He died shortly thereafter.
We all want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, thoughts, encouragement and kindness that you all extended to us over the years that we have been providing the Ed and El Updates. You have no idea how much this has helped us.
We will be sending details concerning services as they develop.
Thanks to all, The Dombrowski sibs
Thu 7/3/2008 8:08 AM
Hi, How you all doing today? I want to try to get a hold of y'all before you talked to the hospice folks. I had some thoughts upon waking up this morning. The folks at work brace themselves when I tell them that I had this thought or that thought when I woke up. Usually what happens is all the clutter of the day evaporates, and I get a clear view of the issues on my mind.
This morning my thoughts were on Dad. Last night when I was on the phone with Anna we were talking about when dad might pass. I said that if I were to place a bet that I would bet on him living past his birthday. I guess what I was assuming was that he would be continuing to get any antibiotics or that they would be keeping up with the amounts of cumadin (sp?) to keep him from having congestive heart failure.
However, it seems like he is walking a very thin line between having the proper meds, and being dead. If we take him off the meds, he could be gone fast. I say this as I think of the time that ya'll took Dad to the hospital and the ER doc told Joan that "if you don't admit him he will be dead by tomorrow", Also, Mary and Anna had previous conversations concerning hospice people whereby it was said that they "don't give medicine" in a hospice situation. When I combined these things as I woke up it got me to thinking that dad could pass on a lot sooner rather than later.
Then there is the fact that he is in pain from the cancer and the kidney stones there will have to be a big factor of how the pain is managed. I think we are all in agreement that we should do all that is possible to minimize the pain that he is suffering. How is this going to be handled by the hospice people? I would certainly hope that they would not withhold pain med for fear of him becoming an addict, but one of the issues with morphine or other narcotics, is that they depress the breathing and this could lead to his lungs filling up and pneumonia or congestive heart failure.
I guess what became clear to me this morning is that his passing could be coming sooner than I was thinking and given the fact that he could be in serious pain I would say "don't hold things up on my account". I can be on a plane very quickly to be there as he passes. So if it looks like things are going to happen fast think in terms of what is best for Dad.
I have my cell phone so please give me a call if this is not clear to ya'll.
Love to all,
Tom
Thu 7/3/2008 7:45 AM
Today Dad is about the same. Yesterday, we got in touch with a hospice and they are coming today to do an evaluation and hopefully we can get him home this evening.
Last evening his blood pressure was very low 70/30 and his oxygen stats were bad 89%. This morning the BP was up 79/42 (don't know the O2). Sara said his urine was also decreased, I think that maybe a blood clot is blocking the catheter, that has happened many times in the past and we freaked out because we thought that his kidneys were shutting down. I will see today and get the nursing staff to flush it if the stream hasn't gotten back to a more regular amount.
Sara also said that he had huge poops last night (most likely because of the antibiotics) and was moaning and groaning. They gave him some xanex (sp?), but not any real pain meds. I can't wait for the hospice so we can get his pain in control.
I think this was about all that I know for today.
Love and hugs,
Mary et.al.
Wed 7/2/2008 7:54 AM
More info on Dad. I got a call from the Urologist last evening and I have more bad news. He said he had a cat scan of his abdomen area and they found out the blood in his urine is most likely coming from 2 kidney stones (one in each kidney) that are about 1cm in size. He said they are not blocking any of the flow and there isn't really anything they can do with the stones.
Next he said that the area where the prostate was has a growth and the cancer has mastizied (sp?) to the bone in his pelvis and may also be in the bladder. He said there is a shadow on the CT and he couldn't tell if was a growth or if the bladder had "fallen" from old age. Again there isn't really any treatment. He also stated he didn't know where else the cancer may have spread. We do know from the xray in the ER that it hasn't made it to the lungs because the ER said that the xray was clear and he didn't have pneumonia.
Anna and I both saw him last night and he seemed to be resting comfortably. However; shortly after we left, Sara said that he began to shout out in pain. Sara asked the nurse to give him some pain meds and the nurse gave him Ambien (a sleeping pill - which keeps Dad up and doesn't make him sleepy - we tried that drug before). So finally at 3:30 am the hospital nurse gave him some pain meds. I guess she got tired of hearing him yelling.
Joan arrived last night and is going to sit at the hospital today to wait to talk to the doctors and get the hospice started. She is going to talk to the Social Worker/Patient Advocate to find out how the process works and what we need to do. Our choice would be to have the hospice at home.
Will let you know what else goes on as I get news.
Thanks all of you for your supportive e-mails and all the prayers.
Love to all, Mary
Tue 7/1/2008 10:48 AM
Hey I just got off the phone with the doctor. She was very concerned about Dad and wanted to know how aggressively we wanted to treat him. His sodium level is way up again 158 (normals 135-145mEq/L). She also said that his PSA (prostate enzyme) is 115 indicating that he has prostate cancer (In most laboratories, a value of less than 4 ng/ml is normal. A value between 4 and 10 is borderline, and over 10 is high - from the net)
Her wording was that he is full of cancer with readings that high. This probably accounts for the hard time they had inserting the catheter. In 1990 dad had a TURP and if the MD didn't get all of the prostate regrows ( Need for re-treatment. Later treatment after TURP is uncommon and significantly less likely, compared with minimally invasive treatments. Some men may need a second surgery after a number of years. A few men require re-treatment because their prostate gland regrows or because not enough of it is removed the first time. - May Clinic website)
I told her we are basically trying to make him comfortable and are not going to aggressively treat any of his issues especially since the pacemaker is dying.
In addition, his heart enzymes were elevated indicating that he has had another small heart attack.
She also said that his heart is only 25% functioning according to an echo that they did the last time he was admitted.
She indicated that it may be time for hospice care. I am pretty sure that I agree with her. I really don't know how much longer he can live the way he is living and I don't know how much more we can put him through until the pacemaker dies. By treating him aggressively we may get him a few weeks longer.
So this is the most current info.
She said that she would talk to me tomorrow.
Love and hug,
Tue 7/1/2008 8:20 AM
Dad had to be taken to the hospital yesterday evening because of blood in his urine (we saw it in the depends).
Got home at midnight, so not too bad. He is in room 325b bed but there isn't anyone else in the room (as of last night).
God it was awful for him when they were trying to install his catheter. It took 4 times and 2 different types of catheters and 3 different sizes. He was just screaming out in pain. I know it just had to hurt. They finally got it in and there was tons of blood. When we got up to the room it looked like more blood coming out of him then urine. I was very concerned about the blood and Anna told me not to get too excited because the blood we were seeing at that time could be from the trauma of getting the catheter in and we need to see what it is like today.
They weighed him last night and he weighs 45.7 kilos (100.5lbs). Sorta guessed that one pretty accurate.
They said (in the ER) that he has a UTI and his electrolytes are out of balance. Not sure which ones, they weren't too informative, you know how they just run in and tell you a few things then they scoot out for a few hours and you don't have time to process what they say at the time.
When we left at midnight, they didn't start any antibiotics yet or his feeding pump. I sure hope they did. Nancy has issues with the CNA's on the graveyard shift, so we told her just to stay at home or see if someone could come and pick her up, so we didn't have someone we could call and talk to about what went on after we left.
I just called and talked to the nurse and he said Dad was resting comfortably and the blood in the urine looked about the same. But I am not sure he knows what it really looked like last night. He said that the last time he was there, Fred wasn't there yet, but I don't know what time that was.
I just wanted to give you an update on what I know at the moment.
Will let you know what is going on when I get any new info.
Love and hugs, Mary
Thu 6/12/2008 8:14 AM
Just what Dad used to say For the Journal-Constitution Published on: 06/12/08
Sunday is Father's Day, and we've got something to get you in the mood. Here are some dads, and some of their "Dad-isms" -- the words of wisdom, the favorite sayings or warnings their children have never forgotten.
Edmund Dombrowski
My dad always had a keen sense of humor and could spout off many Dad-isms.
His No. 1 favorite was at dinnertime. After we said grace he would always say, "Who eats the fastest gets the mostest."
Some other ones he used quite a bit:
"If you want to fight ... join the army."
"You're not saving when you are spending."
"To lose weight, keep your mouth shut."
Joan D. Cronin, Snellville
Other ones we thought about after this got published:
"It will get better before you get married"
"I'm Big Ed on overhead"
"Unc the Skunk"
"Why -Z"
"What nature has fogotten you can stuff with cotton" (When the girls were growing up and didn't have boobs yet)
Thu 6/12/2008 7:03 AM
Good Morning Y'all,
Just a quick update on Dad. He is doing fine. No issues right now. Wanted to say thanks for the two folks who sent me the note on using Maalox/milk of magnesia on Dad's butt. It works like a charm. It makes sense too. The products protect the stomach from stomach acid, why wouldn't it work on keeping urine off your skin.
Below is a link to pictures on Flickr.com from Emily's wedding last weekend. These are just my pictures and they didn't turn out to well. But hey you get an idea.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27550026@NO5
Have a great father's day weekend to all the great dad's!!!
Wed 5/28/2008 7:26 AM
Good Morning,
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day! Things here are fine. Not much news to talk about. Dad is the same. He really doen't look good at all and is hanging in there. He is very thin and doen't really talk too much. He just shouts when you do something he doesn't like.
We are having a bit of trouble with diaper rash on his bottom and are trying a bunch of different things so he isn't as comfortable as he could be. These rashes just pop up and they are somewhat hard to make go away.
Jerry and I have been traveling around alot this month. We went to a class up in NJ and saw our cousins Tony and Judy, then we went to Tom's and also saw Cousin Donna her daughter Tammy and their family. It was so nice to see everyone and it was nice to revisit the old country.
Jerry's and my daughter, Emily is getting married in a few weeks and that is keeping us a little busy. Thank God her mom has to deal more with her. We have heard that she is a Bridezilla! I thought about taking Dad to the wedding, but really don't see how he could go. It is about a 45 min drive to the wedding site and back and he just can't really sit in the wheelchair for that long anymore. If you keep him longer than 2 hours, he really starts to shout that he wants back in the bed. We will take pictures and show him the wedding. At this point I'm not sure he even knows who she is anymore.
One other thing is that I am sure that I told you that Dad's pacemaker leads are shorting out causing the battery to drain faster than is supposed to. The doctors say he wouldn't make it through the surgery so we are not doing anything about it. Anyway, I have our nurses checking his vital signs daily and his pulse is starting to slow down. It was running about 70 and has slowed to the low 60's. This is an indication that the battery is weaker. Just wanted to let everyone know that it is slowing and we aren't sure how much the pacemaker is providing and how much his heart is doing on his own. Only time will tell.
Hope all is good with all of you.
Love and hugs to all of you,
Mary et. al.
**
Mon 4/7/2008 8:20 AM
Just a quick note to let everyone know that Dad came home on Friday. He is ok. Not great, but ok.
Will keep you posted.
Wed 4/2/2008 8:29 AM
Dad looked pretty good last night, but Sara called this morning and said he wasn't doing too well. Yesterday, they had to replace an IV line and started a new antibiotic. When I got there at 4 the Respiratory lady came in and pulled down his sheet and his arm was swollen and the IV port had come apart and alot of the antibiotic had dripped out on the bed. They couldn't give him anymore until his next dose because they didn't know how much he got.
The nurse took out that IV and put another one in last night. Sara said he got the antibiotic again and his arm was swollen. She didn't know if it was from the one that happend at 4 or if was another reaction.
Sara also said that his butt looked real bad. The sore was much worse than from when we got there a week ago and now he has 3 more scratches on his rear. I asked Sara to ask the nurse to get him an egg crate to make the bed softer. She showed the nurse the wound and she said it looked ok to her, but Sara said it was looking bad.
Sara was also going to ask if he could get some tylenol as he was shouting since 4 am, and that usually means pain for him.
Will keep you updated.
Mon 3/31/2008 8:00 AM
Just a quick update for today. Dad was a bit better yesterday. In the morning he didn't look too good, but in the afternoon he picked up a bit. He was awake and had some color to him.
We saw a the kidney specialist on Sat and he said that Dad's sodium level was very high 156 and it should be 132-146. So he needed to give him fluids to get that level down. He also said that he had a urinary track infection. He also talked to us about Dad getting the pacemaker replaced and he said that was not a good idea and that Dad wouldn't do well with the surgery at all.
The nurse on Sat also said that the lab results showed that Dad did have a heart attack, but we have not spoken to the Cardiologist.
Currently, the game is for them to give him lots of fluids and to balance it with diuretics. He was very dehydrated. They apparently also identified the urinary tract bug and put him on a third IV antibiotic yesterday. Sara called yesterday evening and said the sore on his butt looks worse since he's been in the hospital. She was going to show the nurse.
Will let you know what goes on.
Fri 3/28/2008 5:51 AM
Hi, when i re-read my last e-mail, I think I mis-spoke my position on my feeling on how to handle dad's latest medical news.
Originally, I was 100% against the 5 year pacemaker plan and i was leaning on the side of doing nothing as opposed to going in and doing a "battery change". I was about 80% in favor of doing nothing.
Then after the e-mails, and seeing that dad is again in the hospital for a possible heart attack (as opposed to just pneumonia (still to come?)) and developing bed sores, i am now completely convinced that doing nothing is the proper thing to do.
When i re-read my last e-mail it sounded to me that my last e-mail made it sound like i might have been in favor of doing the battery change and you all talked me out of it. That is not the case, so no need to worry that you guys are forcing me to agree to a course of action against my will.
It sounds to me that, once again, we are all on the same page.
Late yesterday afternoon I was talking to my boss about this and he told me about his late-90 year old uncle. His uncle was a member of the "breakfast club" at the Y that i went to for 6 years when i worked in Easton. He was there when they opened up at 5:30 and hung around until mid-morning working out, having coffee, and telling any and all who would listen how to fix the world.
Well he went in for a pacemaker "battery change" and got an infection and was dead within a month. This man was in great shape for a 90 year old and is now passed on. If that can happen to him, i can't imagine a good outcome for dad.
Anyway, just wanted to make sure that you all knew that you are not forcing me into an action.
Love to all, tom
Thu 3/27/2008 12:12 PM
Hi, I feel comfortable with doing nothing. I was definitely leaning against it when I wrote my first e-mail, but hearing about the bed sore etc I am defiantly in favor of letting nature take its coarse.
Love to all, Tom
Fri 3/28/2008 10:24 AM
Hey all, I wanted to let everyone know that Dad is back in the hospital. Anna and I suspected that he had pneumonia again so we took him on in. Well, the ER says he doesn't have pneumonia, but they admitted him because of 1. shortness of breath, 2. High sodium level, and 3. His cardiac enzymes were high (suspect of a heart attack).
One of the bad things is that his regular doctor, Dr.D., had to have emergency surgery herself and is out on medical leave. So we have a doctor we haven't ever seen and have no idea about her. I hope this isn't bad, but that is all you can do.
We also got some news that Dad's pacemaker battery is low again. They usually last about 5 years and it has only been 2 since he got it replaced. The Cardiologist said that the leads are causing the power drain on the battery and they really need to be replaced for the best results. The pacemaker replacement didn't go too well two years ago and it took him about 1.5 years for the wound to heal. If you remember the site got infected with Staph and he was admitted to the hospital for 10 days shortly after the replacement and the wound just wouldn't heal.
He is also having major issues with his skin healing as it is. When we got the pacemaker site all cleared up he got a scratch on his butt. That has turned into a bed sore and won't heal. He has had that for about 6 months.
Anyway, the family has decided it would not be in his best interest to have the surgery to replace the pacemaker. The physicians do not know how long the battery will last as it how his body will react without it when it does not have any more power. So his heart is in God's hand. We are leaving it up to the Big Guy Upstairs.
I will let you know how things are going. I would say the long term outlook isn't too good, but he isn't in any pain (that we know of) and he is resting comfortably.
Have a great day and I will keep everyone posted.
Thu 3/27/2008 9:20 AM
I guess you can't really ask him and get his opinion. In a way, I think we should let him go. He does have the living will and didn't really want to be kept alive with extra means. We did do the feeding tube, but...
Hey, I will agree to the first two, but not the major surgery.
Love,JO
Thu 3/27/2008 9:19 AM
Hi y'all,
My 2 cents is to not have surgery at all. I agree with all that Mary has said about Dad's last pacemaker wound not healing for 18 months, and the scratch and resulting sore on his butt not healing for 6 months now (it's still there). I think if he didn't die on the table, then he would succumb to nonhealing wound issues (i.e., infections), plus he's be in pain from the surgery, and then the wound if it got infected.
I still have bad dreams of Aunt Jay crying out in pain with her open wound. She had a very painful dying, and they had to give her morphine in last few days, which in my opinion should have been started a lot sooner. Dad has no quality of life now. He doesn't even watch tv any more - even sports - and watching the neighborhood go by doesn't interest him either. When his eyes are open, he's just looking at Mom's picture. He gets unconfortable in his bed and he can't sit up longer than maybe 1-1/2 hours at the most. Sometimes he tries to pull the feeding tube out.
Sometimes he seems to get really frustrated, and tries to get out of the bed, like by breaking the bedrail, and other times he grabs us and squeezes us really hard, like so hard I'm afraid that he's going to crush my fingers. When I say to him something like, "Gosh Dad, you're really strong, and you must be really frustrated", he relaxes and looks at me, like "yes, you understand". My definite impression is that he doesn't want to be in the situation he's in. I also give him kisses on the top of his head first telling him it's a kiss from Eleanore or his mother, he says "Yeh" and he relaxes and looks at peace.
I personally would not feel guilty by not doing anything. I think he would just eventually fall asleep and not wake up. It would be a peaceful and painless death. Just like one of his apnea episodes but he wouldn't come out of it. I agree with Tom that I myself absolutely do not want to be in a similar situation where I need care 24/7/365. Pull the plug or whatever. Actually I think of doing nothing for Daddy as a great kindness. I've often thought what a blessing it is to be able to put down an animal in pain with no possibility of healing. I think this is the equivalent situation with Daddy. I also would feel very guilty if Daddy had bad complications from the surgery, which I think would be inevitable given his fragile state.
Well, let's talk soon. XOXOXO Anna
Hi ya'll.
Wow, that is sobering news. I will be available to talk anytime so just give me a call.
My first reaction is 100% against doing the full replacement. I don't see that getting him 5 more years is worth the risk of surgery.
About 15 minutes before I opened the e-mail from Mary I was watching the news and they were doing a story on Iraqi war vets who had injuries that would require 100% 24/7/365 skilled nursing care and I told wife-Mary that if I were ever in that situation from a car wreck, bike mishap, etc, that she should not let me live like that (I am telling you, my sisters, that too- save this e-mail). If it come to a decision to pull the plug or let me live like that, then pull the plug.
I guess this means that I would be infavor of not doing surgery and putting it in God's hands. However, if you all did not agree with that I can CERTAINLY understand that and would support you 100%.
I think that we should give Aunt Rita's views a lot of weight, but I don't think that we should burden her with the responsibiity of making the decision for us.
She is the only one of us who knows what it is like to be of that age and her perspective is unique.
From the e-mail that Mary sent I am only 99% clear on what Aunt Rita is saying, not 100% clear. My interpretation is that Aunt Rita is saying that we should not have intervined 2 years ago when he got the new pacemaker. If that is not a correct interpretation please correct me. Either way, I think that we should give her advise a lot of weight in the decision making process.
I know this is not easy and please feel free to call anytime. Love to all, Tom
Personally, I would have no guilt at all by not doing anything. That would be the natural course of events. If we had no knowledge of the pacemaker battery low charge (as he was supposed to have 5 years on that one and we are just 2 years in now), we would just think that he died naturally. Which is what may happen anyway or he may be able to live for a some time with out any battey anyway. Who knows.
Now I would feel very guilty, if we put him through a sugery and he died on the table or had horrible complications from that surgery involving pain or infection. But that is my opinion. Remember the pain that Jay had from her sore that wouldn't heal. I could just see that happening with a surgery wound.
Well, my gut reaction would be to let it go, but would we feel like we killed him? We would all have to agree feel and comfortable to do this one. He really doesn't have much quality of life.
My other choice would be to do the number 2 one since it is less invasive than the entire surgery.
I really don't think he needs the whole thing replaced - for I don't think he will last that long for it to be worthwhile.
So, that's my 2 cents for now.
Love, JO
Thu 3/27/2008 7:31 AM
A few days ago I did the quarterly pacemaker check with Dad over the telephone. It didn't sound like it normally did when you put the magnet up against it. It makes a real high pitch whine usually, and the guy had me do it a few times and then said ok, we are all done.
Didn't think any more about it then, Anna got a call from Jeanine from the cardiologist, (she is the PA physician's assistant) . She suggested that we bring him in to the office and have the company come out to do an in office test and Anna took him today.
The results are in and the pacemaker needs to be replaced. I'm not sure if I got this correct, but one of the leads is not placed properly and is causing the battery to use more power than it should. It should last 5 years, but it has just been a little over two years.
So the options are as follows:
Do nothing. The battery will last anywhere from 1 to 3 months (who knows for sure) and then it will be in God's hands what happens.
Do the replacement that we did 2 years ago where just the pacemaker will be replaced and will continue to use more power than normal. Meaning that that battery will need replacing again in two years.
Do the whole replacement. That is a much more involved surgery and involves replacing the wires too.
I am leaving in a minute to go home and Anna has a 4-5 pm meeting downtown this afternoon. That means that she won't get home before 6 or 6:30 tonight.
I think we need (at least the sibs) to get on a call and discuss what we want to do. I know what Aunt Rita would say, since she asked me last time, why did we do it then?
So anyway, just a heads up that we need to get together on a call sometime soon.
Wed 3/5/2008 9:51 AM
All is good here in Texas. Dad is fine. He doesn't want to open his much now. He is awake and listening to you, but has the peepers closed.
Tom came into town last week and it was good to see him. He was in town for a meeting for a few days. We got him over to the house to see Dad a few times. Dad didn't really open his eyes much when he was here, but one time, the first day, Dad to a swing at Tom's head, Tom ducked, and Dad had a smile on his face. So he knew what was going on, just playing opossum.
Anna and I were in the ER on Monday. Anna tripped and fell on the cement walkway going to her house. She fell and cut her skin about the right eye and she fractured one of her arm bones. She got 7 stitches above her eyebrow and a cast that goes up past her elbow and down to her fingers. She has to go see the othro specialist in a few days. The ER nurse said to wait until the swelling goes down before you go to that doctor.
The ER doctor that saw Anna and I asked "Where is your father? I saw Dombrowski on the list." We said he was home and were here for Anna. Dr. Steve was absolutely amazed that Dad was still alive and that he had not been in the hospital since Oct. It's pretty bad when the ER doctor knows your name and your daughters faces. He stitched Anna up pretty quick. It only took about 2 hours since were were in the "fast track" or Owey line (where all the kids who hurt themselves go).
Fred is working out real well. I have now got him trained to watch I Love Lucy at 4 so we are off the soccer channel. He loves Lucy now. He is from Sierra Leonne, Africa and never saw Lucy before. He even asked me if it was a new show!!! Gotta Love it!
Well, I must be going. Just wanted y'all to know that things are good here. I think that Dad has lost a few pounds, but we can't weigh him at home, so we have no way of knowing. Tom hadn't seen him since the Summer and he said he looked like he lost some weight. I am guessing around 105 to 100lbs. He looks so bad with out any clothes on.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, we did have to take him in Mid February to a GI doctor because he needed to have his G-tube replaced. The tube wouldn't hold in the adaptor to the feeding tube bag. It was a quick in and out proceedure (5-10 min). We had to go to the hospital and it was done in the Day Surgery waiting room. He had to fast also. I hated that part. Not that doesn't need every single calorie.
So, all is good!
Love and hugs to y'all.
Mary et al.
Hey Everyone,
Just want to let you know all is well here in Houston. Dad is doing well. Knock on wood, he hasn't been in the hospital since Oct. He really hasn't had any issues, so that is why you haven't gotten any update. There really isn't anything to update.
We have a new male nurse that is working with us on an as needed basis. Right now his basis is M-F 2pm to 7pm. Liz got an evening job and and works 7am to 2pm M-F now. It is nice for Dad to have a guy around. My only complaint, and that is such a selfish one, is that he likes to watch soccer everyday all day long. Gosh, me and sports, not so good. I go over to see Dad and lay on the other bed and find myself dozing off. Sports like that just lulls me off to sleep. But really, Dad likes him and he takes good care of him. The new nurse is Fred.
That's about all happening around here. I had a little day surgery a few weeks ago and ended up spending a night in the hospital. I am fine now, but have a different view of the hospital scene.
The rest of the Houston crew is great. Weather is nice here.
Talk to you you soon, Have a great weekend.
Love, Mary
HO, HO, HO, to everyone,
All is good here in Houston. Dad is ok. He hasn't been in the hospital for some time now. Knock on wood and he seems to be ok. Joan is on her way here today to visit for the holidays and will go back home on New Year's Eve.
We all had a wonderful time at Andy and Quinn's wedding on Martha's Vineyard last weekend. We had some trouble getting there from the Boston Airport because of the snow (roughly 6.5 hours to drive 70 miles) and missed our boat reservation. But we got there and had a blast. The ceremony was beautiful and like none I have ever attended. It was not your traditional wedding, but who would expect traditional from Andy.
Kelley, our friend, took care of Dad and our pets while we were gone and she didn't have any issues. All (mostly) behaved themselves. Dad really liked petting on her dog, Jackie.
I haven't sent out any Christmas cards, I haven't had the time yet, so don't think that I am ignoring you, just been a bit busy.
Love and hugs to all and I hope all you have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year.
Mary et al
Just wanted to let everyone know that Dad got home last night at about 8:30. He was looking pretty good. The Doctor was able to get him on some oral antibiotics and he will be on them for 5 days. She took out the catheter and he is peeing just fine.
We also got him a flu shot while he was there, so we don't have to worry about that. She is also putting him on some other medication to try to keep the urinary tract infections from occurring. I am not sure of the medication for that one, but he starts it after he finishes the antibiotics. The pharmacy was out of that drug and has to order it in.
I think that is about all for now. Just want everyone to know that he is home again!!!
Love and hugs to all and of course Happy Holloweeeeennnnn!!!!!!
Fri 10/26/2007 11:48 AM
So, It's Friday, and Dad is back in the hospital. We took him in last evening. His doctor did some lab work last week (was done from the home health service) and the results were not too good. All the lab work was abnormal. His sodium was high, his potassium was low. He has another infection in his urine, pseudomonas again. That is what he had last month. And of course, the only antibiotics that works on this bug is an IV antibiotic. So Dr.D. told us to bring him into the ER. Sara called me a few minutes before the doctor, and she said he wasn't looking too good.
I got him to the local ER about 5pm and Anna showed up a few minutes later. They got an IV started and gave him a 1000ml of sodium chloride (which I don't really understand since his sodium was high, but again, I am not a doctor) and then started the antibiotics. I can't remember the name of it, because it was a different one than he had been on before. It took them up until 10:15 pm to get a room for him. Not sure why, it took so long this time. The ER was slow, so I guess they didn't need to bug the admit dept to get them upstairs, so they could free up the rooms in the ER. Who knows. But the nurse got him checked in pretty quick and we were home at about 11:30pm.
I called to check on him just a little while ago and Liz said that he was ok and looking a bit better. Gosh these infections just make havoc with him. At least this time his blood pressure is up and we don't have to give any drugs for that and he isn't in the ICU this time, just a regular room.
Hope all is well with all of you. Will keep you posted. Anna and I will be up at the hospital this weekend and my guess is that he will be there for a few days at the minimum.
Have a great weekend.
Fri 10/19/2007 1:29 PM
Happy Friday everyone!
Just wanted to let you know all is good here in Texas. Dad is stable (knock on wood) and doing fine. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday and she gave us a 2-3 week reprieve on coming back.
Cousin Nancy, We all hope you are recovering from your hospital stay and doing well. We are still praying for you here.
Not much else going on here to chat about. The weather is great, still had a day to two in the 90's, but the evenings and mornings are a bit cooler as they are in the upper 60's. Maybe someday we will have fall here in houston.
Just wanted to let y'all know all is well.
Thu 9/20/2007 9:14 AM
Another quick note to let y'all know that Dad came home from the hospital late Sat night. I was out of the office on Mon and Tues and hardly in yesterday, but wanted to catch you up.
The cause of his hospitalization was a very bad bladder infection with pseudomonas bacteria.
He is holding his own.
Wed 9/12/2007 9:20 AM
Just a quick update. Dad is holding steady. He is still on the dopamine and his blood pressure has perked up some, but still is sometimes very bad. The nurse told me yesterday that sometimes at night his lower number gets into the low 20's! Very scary! Last night it was 94/40 as an average when I was there. It would go up and down. They have him so it check his BP every 15 min.
But he was feeling a little better because he took a swing at the nurse yesterday. She and Sara were adjusting his position and low and behold he swung at the nurse. Suprised her. Then she told him that she was going to tell his daughter that he tried to hit her and he laughed.
Anna was there late last night and the TV was off so she turned it on and as far as she could tell he was asleep. So she was changing channels and she passed by a baseball game. When she changed the channel he made an angry grunting noise at her. So she turned it back to the game and he opened his eyes and looked at the game and closed his eyes and was happy. So she got to watch the Detroit game for an hour.
I just spoke with the nurse and she said the cardiologist was just there and they are going to try to discontinue the dopamine and see what happens today.
Love and hugs from Texas.
Mon 9/10/2007 7:31 AM
Good Morining All,
Well, Anna and I had to take Dad back to the hospital yesterday. He was making the gurggling sound when he was breathing. Liz had shut off the feeding pump for most of the morning and gave his pills at 10 am and kept it off till noon. At noon she started the feeding and within 20 minutes he was breathing bad. So Anna and I decided to ship him off to the hospital.
The breathing got better, but his blood pressure was way low and his finger tips on this right hand were turning blue. The ER doc said it was his lack of circulation and to try to stimulate his hand by rubbing it and getting the blood down to it. They started him on a drug called dopamine to try to elevate the blood pressure to get the top number over 100. Well it did that for a few times, but his blood pressure was running about 94/50 for most of the time. They admitted him to the ICU unit. Their policies at this hospital says that they must be in either ICU or the ER to get this drug and to titrate it.
What made us feel bad about this was that our nurses couldn't stay with him as usual. Nancy came up to sit with him and we had to take her back home (she rides the bus to get to our house). Anna and I got kicked out of the ICU at 7pm last night. They have strict visiting hours there and they only make exceptions when the patient is really bad (as they did when Mom was there).
Also, they gave him a 1000ml of saline to try to boost up his blood pressure and ran it into him in about an hour or so. Anna and I were worried about him filling up with fluids and no one being there to watch him. I did read up on the dopamine last night and it did say one of the side effects was that it causes increased urine output, which is good for him too.
I called this am to check on him and they said he was very stable, blood pressure was still in the low 90's, he had been started on his feedings, they were taking his blood sugars, and he was not gurggling when he was breathing.
Our day nurse will stay most of the day with him. The visiting hours are 9 am to 1 pm and 3 pm to 7 pm and 8pm to 9pm. I will get there around 4 pm and Anna said she would do the 8pm to 9 pm shift. It just makes me nervous that we don't have someone with him all the time. I guess we have been pretty spoiled in the fact that every other time he has been in the hospital, we have had our staff there with him. So when they transfer him to a regular room, we can get our staff back in there.
I will let you know of any new happenings.
Love and hugs to all of you.
Wed 8/22/2007 8:00 AM
Hey Everyone, Dad is back home!! YEA! He got home on Friday the 17th. We had to send him to a nursing home for 4 days to complete a round of IV antibiotics. I was so glad to get him home. I just didn't want them to suck up his Medicare and keep him the 20 days that Medicare will pay for.
The place was ok, but I didn't like it. What bothered me the most was the lack of bed rails on the beds. Their theory was that you lowered the bed to the lowest position and then if they fell, it wasn't too far to fall. They insisted this was ok and said they would put pads on the floor so it would be a cushioned fall. Well, of course, there never were any cushions. But we had our nurses there so they watched him like a hawk and he never fell. They also put some bolsters beside him. If he was in this normal mode, they would not have worked.
And of course, the staff were very busy. The man in the bed next to Dad was a very nice 91 year old who could still walk with a walker, but he needed alot of assistance. My staff said they would only come once in their 12 hour shift to take him to the bathroom. It was awful. I am so glad we have our little nursing home set up at Anna's.
Dad did end up having the MRSA. They put him on very strong antibiotics and it did the trick. His face swelling went down within 12 or so hours of the antibiotic administration. The shingles also appear to have healed up and are gone.
Dr. D had us put a humidifier in his room by the bed to add a little moisture to the room to help keep his mouth moist and to keep using the mouth moisturizers multiple times during the day.
Thu 8/9/2007 7:21 AM
Well, it is August and Dad is back in the hospital again. I got over to see him yesterday at 4pm and I walked in, looked at him and saw this HUGE honkin' golf ball sized (like a half of one) sitting on the side of his face just below his ear. It was very red and swollen, and the red streak went down his neck. Our nurse, Sara, thought that he was getting the shingles on that side of his neck. I was floored to see that much swelling in such a short period of time.
So I called his MD and she said "off to the ER." So off we went. The ER doctor said that the gland that swells up when you get the mumps has a massive infection. If you look in his mouth, there is like a huge canker sore in the back of his throat. The ER doctor said it is from him not having any moisture in his mouth due to him not getting any liquids by mouth. Our nurses use this stuff called mouth moisturizer on/in him multiple times a day, but that is obviously not enough.
His regular MD said this is pretty bad since it came up real fast and when he was in the hospital last month, they cultured MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) out of his nose. So there is a great potential that his sinus drainage very well could have gotten into that sore and the MRSA too if the antibiotics that he took while he was in last time didn't kill it. He was on very strong antibiotics last time too because of his pneumonia. She also said that he could have a very large yeast infection in his mouth and it not be the MRSA. (Oh, MRSA is what Aunt Jay died from).
And another issue and that was the nurse replaced his urine catheter in the ER and by the time we left the hospital 5 hours later, he wasn't peeing. Dr.D. said that the tube was most likely occluded since he was peeing before that.
I spoke with Liz this morning and she said he was peeing, that was good. He also was looking a bit better too. They got some antibiotics started in the ER.
Last night, after we left, he went for a cat scan. Don't know the results yet. Dr.D. was calling in a Ear Nose and Throat Dr. and some other Dr. that I can't seem to remember, maybe kidney. It got late last night.
For right now he is stable. There isn't any pneumonia, or congestive heart failure. He still has the remains of the shingles, they at least are going away.
I will keep you updated as I learn new stuff.
Mon 7/23/2007 9:02 AM
Hey All,
More news on the Texas front. Yesterday, was Dad's 87th birthday. We had a little party for him and he was not at all interested in it at all. He did realize that it was his birthday, but that was about all.
Also, we have figured out that he has shingles now. They are on the back of his neck and go to the front of his neck and up to his ear. We first thought he was having an allergic reaction to something, and tried the Benedryl thing and it really didn't help. But yesterday, blisters erupted on his neck. Joan was the one who thought of shingles. She looked it up on the internet and saw pictures and sure enough, that is what his rash looks like. I called his doctor and she called me back and by describing his symptoms, she thought it was shingles too. She prescribed an anti-viral medication and a strong pain killer for him. We can't give him too much, because it may suppress his breathing.
So this morning, I stopped by to see him and the shingles looked a little better. However, his urine output was very low, only about 150cc's from 7pm to 6am. And his urine is black from blood. We have an appointment with the urologist today at 3:45pm to see about that. Sara (the day nurse) called me about 8 am and she said he had put out about 400cc's since I was there at 6am. So we will find out what is going on. He was moaning (I could hear over the phone) and told her to go ahead and give the pain killer to him.
I really are not sure how much more he can take. He looks so bad now especially with the shingles on his neck and face. I sure hope the anti-viral works for him. They say they last about a month and can be very very painful. It is best for the anti-viral to be given with 72 hours of the begining of shingles, and I am not sure if we figured it out in time, but the drug seems to work some, so I am hopeful.
I will let you know what the Urologist says today.
Love and Hugs, Mary
Fri 7/20/2007 1:35 PM
Just wanted to let everyone know that Dad got out of the hospital on Wed evening. He is doing well. We have a home feeding pump and the home health is coming regularly. He is having some blood in his urine and we have an appointment on Monday at a urologist. The doctor left in the catheter. It is still bleeding some, but looks a little better.
I will keep you posted. Oh, and for all of you that don't know, Dad's birthday is on Sunday (the 22nd) and he will turn 87!!! I didn't know if he was going to make it, but he sure has.
Thu 7/12/2007 7:26 AM
Hey to all,
Sorry, I haven't written in a while, but Dad has kept us busy. He has been in and out of the hospital again. He is currently in today and is getting his feeding tube replaced due to some obstructions and the top plug has fallen off (the hospital nurses lost it last time he was in).
Joan is here and Tom and Matt are coming today for visits. Joan will be here for 2 weeks (her normal help us out summer trip - I won't call it a vacation) and Tom will be here for 4 days. Matt will be staying a bit longer and will go home next friday. Mary is going to have back surgery on the 16th and with Matt staying here with us will free up Tom to focus on Mary and her recovery.
Back to Dad. We took him back into the hospital on Friday, the 6th. He was making the awful gurggling sounds when he took a breath. The Pulmonary doctor has been treating him aggressively and started to have his lungs suctioned on a regular basis. One of his lungs was filled with mucus and had collapsed. The suctioning has helped that alot.
Another issue was that his formula was getting into his lungs. When we feed him, you pour a certain amount of the formula and water directly into his stomach. What is happening is that the fluid is comming back up his throat and the little flap that closeses the lungs isn't working and the fluid goes into the lungs. So the doctor has changed his type of feedings to a feeding pump where he is getting a continuous amount of food (40cc's) an hour and has ordered that his bed be kept in an upright position and he is not to be laid down flat except for very short times.
Oh, my God has this helped tremendously. He is like a different person. In just one day, the change was astounding! His color looks so much better, because of the clear lungs and his ability to process the air without the mucus in the lungs. God, he is such a fighter!! I just don't know where he gets the strength to fight.
The outlook was very gloomy on Monday (his coloring was gray) and the doctor told us that there may be a very good chance that he would never get to go home and that he would have to be in a skilled nursing home for the rest of his life. Then on Tuesday, they said, oh, he will be going home as soon as the G-Tube is changed out(his coloring was a pretty pink)! What a difference a day makes and a change in the way we are feeding him.
So that is how things are going this week. He is supposed to have the surgery today at Noon and it should only take a few minutes, they go into his stomach and pop off the old tube and insert the new one. No cutting is involved. So the recovery will be pretty quick. He does have to be sedated so there is always a chance of things that could go wrong, but I am confident that all will go well. He is such a strong man.
I will let you know when he goes home and how things are progressing. I hope that eveyone had a great 4th of July and a great month ahead.
Mary, Anna, Joan, Tom, Jerry, Matt, Aaron, and all the pets (Tiger, Hoochie, Lucky, Harley, Daisy, Gus, the fish and The Birds - who have 9 eggs that we think are duds and that the birds are both girls)
Mon 5/21/2007 8:24 AM
Dad is ok as things go. He has been a little more alert these past few days. I took him to see Dr.D. on Friday and was impressed that he was actually awake for the visit. She had us get him some x-rays and blood work. He was too tired to do that on Friday, so Anna, Sara and I did that on Saturday. Dr.D. also said that she is sure that he has had another stroke. Anna and I knew that for a while now. Anna is pretty sure of the exact day and when she talked to me about it, I am pretty sure that was the day too. I don't have the "blue book" with me, but it was the day he went to the hospital in late January.
Dad is contracting in his left arm and left leg. Dr.D. said that is a sure sign of the new stroke. Let alone the fact that now he can't swallow any food anymore and the eye not looking straight anymore was a sure sign for me. Anna and I were also talking about how his personality has changed some too in the past few months. Before he hated to be changed in bed and would get agitated when he needed to poop and wanted to get out of the bed. Now he just sits there and doesn't even tell anyone that he needs changing.
Anyway he is ok. Not bad, but not good either. He is just still not gaining any weight and is probably loosing some too. Dr.D. upped his amount of feedings two weeks ago, and his body is seeming to tollerate the extra liquids.
And some good news for our family. Andy (Tom's oldest son) is getting married on Dec 15th! He is marrying a great woman named Quinn. Andy and Quinn have been dating for quite sometime. I am not exactly sure how they met, but they both are going/graduated from the University of Chicago. Quinn is from Seattle, WA. They plan on getting married on Martha's Vineyard.
Y'all have a great day,
Mon 4/30/2007 11:15 AM
Wanted to let you know that Anna and Joan brought Dad home from the hospital on Wed evening. He is ok, but just ok. Can't say that he is doing real well, but that he ok. His sugar keeps dropping and it is a bit hard to control. You would think that having the restricted diet of the canned formula would keep his sugar pretty consistant, but it doesn't. Last night it fell to 32. We had to quickly get some sugar into him (we had some sugar pills left over from Aunt Jay - she was doing that too) and that seemed to help. We stopped giving him his pill for the diabetes and will only give if his sugar is high. We used to have to give it daily, but now we just have to check.
In the hospital he was 115lbs and don't know his weight now. He seems to be just melting away.
Bob and Judy came to see him and from what Joan and Anna said, he seems to know Bob. Yesterday, I told him "your sister called me today" and he said "who" and I said "Rita" and he shook his head and listed to what I told her about Rita. So he still knows what is going on.
Gotta run and get back to work.
Fri 4/20/2007 2:58 PM
Hi, Just a quick note to let you know we had to take Dad back to the ER yesterday. He has the same old stuff. Congestive heart failure and pneumonia. He is doing ok, but is down to weighing only 115 lbs. He is just not getting enough calories with the feedings and if you give him too much more, then he will get the CHF faster.
Just letting everyone know what is going on. Anna and I are taking a break and going on a short vacation next week and Joan is coming in to help out and be in charge.
Fri 4/6/2007 1:11 PM
Happy Easter Everyone!!
Just wanted to check in with all of you and let you know that things are ok. Dad is at home and is stable. He is not really talking to you and he is sleeping alot. But he is still pretty strong.
His new issue is that he is constipated now. Not sure what is going on with that, but he is now on some stool softners, those started a few days ago. Joan was here for her spring break and she was a lot of help for me. She cleaned my house and car! What a great sister!
She also took Dad to see the doctor while she was here. Well, there isn't much to update you on. He is home and stable and that is a good thing.
Happy Easter and have a great weekend.
Love and hugs,Mary
Mon 2/19/2007 12:12 AM
Hi to all
I just got back from visiting Ed in Houston. He is in the hospital.
It seems he had a "flash edema" episode. I hope i am spelling edema correctly. It means that he is retaining water. Often you may see edema as a swelling of the legs ets, but in his case is is effecting his heart and his lungs. This could lead to congestive heart failure (CHF) and/or pneumonia.
When he was admitted to the hospital on friday he was in bad shape. Joan was visiting for her Presidents Day holiday and during the admission process she asked the doc what would happen if we did not admit him and take him home. The doc said that he would be dead in 2-3 hours. It appeared that his lungs were filling up and his blood presure was 80/48. He breathing had the crackling that may be the "death rattle" but we are not really sure what that sounds like.
Anyway, they got the right directics in him and within hours of admission he was looking better. I got to Houston around noon on Saturday and he looked better than I expected. He was getting a lung treatment and had a mask on. I made a comment that he looked like a fighter pilot and he smiled. He was also able to squeeze you hand and push back when you pushed his foot (on his non-stroke side). He was up and semi-responsive for about 2 hours on Saturday.
On Sunday he was sleeping the whole time we were around from 9 am until about 4 pm when i left for the airport.
I talked to his primary doc Saturday evening around 10 pm when she made her rounds and she said that Ed is a "delicate flower". He was thrilled with how clear his lungs sounded and was talking of sending him home on Sunday. But as of 4 pm they had not removed the Foley so it is unlikely that he would be released on Sunday.
The key will be to balance his fluid and food intake via the feeding tube so he has enough fluid to keep his BP up but not so much that he has congestive heart failure. They are also cutting back on the dosage of this heart meds so they won't get too concentrate and become toxic to him. They also changed his diaretic meds too.
So we will see how this episode ends. Thank you for all the prayers and good wishes. We will keep you informed.
Tom for Anna, Joan and Mary too.
Tue 2/13/2007 9:26 AM
Hope all is good with all of you. Just wanted to let you know that Dad came home yesterday evening. He is ok, but still very tired and not too awake. While in the hospital we had a feeding tube placed into him, because of the aspiration pneumonia. We had two choices, no food or any fluids at all, or the feeding tube. We choose the tube. Couldn't starve him to death. He ended up going about a week with no food, but they had the IV going.
Now that he is home we all have to adjust to the feeding tube. Medicare will pay for the food and a company will deliver all the supplies to the house (this is because he can't eat any other way). The nurses we have at home are learning how to care for the tube again. If y'all don't remember, Mom had one for a few years, but she mostly was able to eat after about 6 months. So we have to re-train the gals. We also have the home care coming by to re-admit him this morning. Currently he has to be fed every 4 hours. They may change that after he gets a bit stronger.
At last check before this hospital admit he weighed about 130 lbs. He looks much thinner now. To me he looks like he just came from the concentration camp. He looks terrible with all this weight loss. I hope we can beef him up some.
The doctors have switched around his medications and deleted 4 old ones and added 1 new one. Since he is on this feeding program, I have stopped all the vitamins since the formula he is eating is jam packed with vitamins, and then he getting it 6 times a day. I don't want to over do it for him.
Not much else to share with you at this time. He is talking some, mostly answering yes or no to questions.
Will update you as things change, remember no news is good news.
Love and hugs from Texas,
Hey everyone, Just wanted to y'all an update on Dad.
He has had a rough start to the year. So far he has been in the hospital two times and is currently still in. The first time was pneumonia and congestive heart failure. That was 2 weeks ago in Jan. Then, Anna and I had to take him again on Feb 2 because he was/is sleeping and not waking up.
He also didn't urinate for about 18 hours. He still hasn't really awakened yet, but as of last night he will respond a little to you. In fact last night was the first time that he opened his eyes (just for a second) when asked. He will give you one word answers (in the past two days). They do have a catheter in him and he is making urine.
The physicians really don't know what is wrong but are guessing that he is having either a reaction to one of his meds or an interaction of the meds. We suspect that since his kidneys aren't working too well, that his paxil is concentrating in his blood making the drug work alot more. He also is getting the pneumonia because he is having a hard time with the swallowing. We are having him evaluated today for a feeding tube. He really hasn't eaten since Friday, with the exception of 2 bowls of soup. So we shall see what happens. They are probably going to discharge him today or within the next few days, since he is really only sleeping and doesn't meet the criteria for being in the hospital. Will let you know what is going on with his condition. At this point I don't think the long-term outlook is very good. Love and hugs to all of you, Mary
Hey Everyone, I wanted to let everyone know that Dad is back in the hospital. This makes the 8th time since late February 2006. He went on Nov 13th with the congestive heart failure and stayed about a week, and he is back in again exactly one month to the day with the same thing. His heart is just getting weak. Maybe the doctors will change around his medications this time and that may help him out.
I will write more later, just wanted to let everyone know what was going on.
Love and hugs to all and of course our family wishes everyone a great holiday season.
We are all good here. Liz had her baby and her name is Rebecca. She brings the baby to work and Dad really loves seeing her. The first time he saw her he kissed her forehead. It was so cute. Wish I had my camera.
Gotta run, just wanted to let you all know that he was home and doing well.
They did testing and found out that he has CHF (congestive heart failure) again. This time it was caught very early. The cardiologist said that he was probably straining on the pot and that can sometimes drop the blood pressure. He said as soon as the EMT's laid him on the floor, the pressure went back up enough to arouse him . He was scheduled to come home yesterday, but the GP (Dr. D) gave him some IV fluids and it made the CHF worse. There is a fine balance with him and his fluids. Too much gives him CHF, too little makes him dehydrated and stresses the kidneys. So they had to give him more of the lasix. According to Sara, he was good this am.
Liz had her baby on Friday, Aug 25 th. A girl. That is all we know for now. Both are doing well.
Hope everyone didn't get any damage from Ernesto. Can't believe all the storms that FL gets. Are y'all ready to move to TX, we don't get that many, we ship them east!!
Well, that is about it for now. Will keep you posted.
Oh, and our Dombroski Matriarch, Rita is having a birthday tomorrow. We want to wish her the best in the upcoming year!! Love and hugs from us here in TX!!
Love, Mary, Anna, and The Birds.
Dad's Dr. just called and said that he has lower lobe pneumonia in both lungs (he aspirated food again yesterday, we think). She is calling in the lung specialist and doesn't feel that he will be home anytime soon (at least not before the Labor Day Holiday).
Sorry it has been since the end of March since my last update, but Dad has been keeping us busy. His health has not been too good lately and is currently in the hospital.
He has been having congestive heart failure (CHF) which has landed him 3 trips to the hospital. One was May 4 and he had pneumonia and blood clots in his lung with that visit. Then on May 30 he was back again with the CHF. And of course, he went back in the hospital on July 8th with CHF and is still there.
This last bout has been pretty bad. He is also growing some e. coli in his bladder and that is really causing problems. It is a drug resistant infection and they put him on an antibiotic called levaquin and that has worked in the past, but not this time. They changed it to vancomyacin on Fri night and he is responding to that one. He got pretty bad on fri and thought that he may have septic shock, but the work up was negative. For a few days he was pretty unresponsive and wouldn't really wake up. But within 24 hours of the vancomyacin, he was much more awake and responding to you. Yesterday he was awake for about 3.5 hours straight and he was out of bed and sitting in the chair. The physical therapist had him doing some leg exercises and he was cooperating with her. So hopefully he is on the way to recovery.
Joan has come to visit for 2 1/2 weeks. She got here on Thurs evening the 6th. The airline has lost her luggage and she has been without for the past 10 days. We feel pretty hopeless that they will find the luggage at this point. She has had to go out and buy some clothes and shoes. She is borrowing some from Anna but you have to have some of your own clothes. It has been long enough that she has filed a claim with the airlines. It is hard to believe that they have really lost her bag. She had a direct flight from Atl to Houston so the bad didn't even have to change planes. It does seem that most of the time Joan comes it involves a trip to the hospital.
Glad Joan is here though, it has made a world of difference with Dad in the hospital. But it is always great for her to be here anyway. We have moved our nursing shifts to the hospital so that Dad is not alone and the ladies will not find other jobs. Dad doesn't fair well in the hospital and the hospital staff tend to want to put him in restraints when he is there because he tries to get out of bed unattended and then he tries to get home. So at least with our nurses there he is not in restraints and he does much better and we don't have him with a broken hip.
Not much else is going on here. Hospital trip after hospital trip (this makes the 5th since Feb 20). He has never gotten back up to the health he was in before Mom died. Not sure if he will ever be that good again, but I sure do hope we can get him better. He has lost a bunch of weight and is down to about 140lbs. He is way too skinny looking.
Oh, and the other thing is that sometime since he go to the hospital this past week, he has gotten a HUGE bruise on his right side that goes from his hip all the way up to his shoulder, then down the arm to the elbow (with him being on Coumadin, a small bruise can get very large quickly). We think that he got bumped or fell when he was taken from the ER to the x-ray department when he first arrived. He has been with one of us the entire time and that was the only time that he was not within our sight. The bruise is plumb purple and it is painful to him when he is moved or you touch it. The doctor has seen it and ordered an ultrasound of the area and found that it is a superficial bruise and not something that is deep within him. At least that was good news.
Love and hugs, Mary, Anna, Joan and The Birds.
Just wanted to give everyone an update on Ed. He is doing ok. He got out of the hospital last week and was very happy to be home. He is still not 100%. They had him on 2 antibiotics to help cure up the wound on his pacemaker site and they have caused a bit of trouble for him.
He is having a bit of stomach upset and one of the antibiotics caused "frequent urination" yea, about every 30 minutes or so. So he hasn't been sleeping 'cause he wants to pee. I took him to the MD on Monday to the specialist. His blood work from the neurologist showed positive for lupus and he sent him to a rheumatologist. That MD did a bunch more lab work and all turned up negative. I wasn't too concerned because when I was growing up my best friend's mom had/has lupus and dad didn't have any of those type symptoms, especially the very known butterfly face rash.
Then on Wed we went to the regular GP, Dr. D. She is doing a urine culture just to make sure he doesn't have an infection. She is also giving him a drug that will cause the urethra to expand so that his bladder will empty. She said that he may not be emptying the bladder and thinking that he still has to go. So she gave us some samples to try for 2 weeks.
Overall, he is a bit quieter, I think he still has a bit of pain with the wound and he perks up when the pain pills (Tylenol) kick in.
We got Dad some Love Birds! They were to be brought to him the day he went into the hospital, so they had to wait. I got them from a friend of my boss. They are gorgeous birds. Not tame at all, but Anna is trying to get them to feed from her hands. The love birds are a Lutino. That means they have lost some of the pigment (blues and greens) and are yellow and red and white in color. It is a genetic thing that happens pretty often, but the birds don't look like your average love birds.
The birds don't really have names yet. We think they are male and female, but you don't know for sure unless you do a DNA test! So we are calling them male and female. Sometimes Dad calls them Joe and Stella (his oldest brother is Joe and his wife is Stella or Dad's sister is Stella, we don't know what Stella it is, but feel if they are a "couple" they will be brother Joe and wife Stella) Other times he calls them Mary and Joan. I like Joe and Stella the best so far.
Some of Joe and Stella's kids are on this e-mail list and you dad must have been very close to Ed. He talks about them all the time. He tells me stories of what they used to do together. Dad also picks up a picture that is on the dresser and looks at them every day (actually multiple times a day - it is on route to the bathroom)
Dad makes quacking noises at them and sometimes he meows at them too. If they pick up any speaking/mimicking it will either be "do you want to pee?" or "quack, quack, quack" or of course "meow meow." Dad really does watch them and is very interested in them.
Dad is still missing Mom very much. He looks at her picture on the way to the potty too and says "that's my girl" But overall he is doing well coping with her death. Actually a bit better than I thought.
Some of the PA folks are talking about having a Dombroski family reunion this summer. I am interested in going. We have our nephew, Andy's college graduation in June and we may take Dad to that. Tom talked about July, but that may be too soon/hot for Dad. Maybe Labor Day?
Well, it is about time for me to head out for the weekend. Y'all have a wonderful weekend and keep Ed in your prayers.
Love and hugs to y'all,
It has been awhile since my last e-mail. Dad's pacemaker crapped out. So on Feb 20, he had a replacement one put in. The area where the pacemaker was installed, got really swollen and we took him back to the Dr. He said the swelling will go down in a few weeks. Dad started rubbing on it some and on this past Monday, it was leaking a clear fluid (like from a blister) and oozing a bit of very dark blood. So we went back to the Dr. and he was admitted to the hospital (in the Medical Center - the one Aunt Jay went to) this past Tuesday.
The Dr. was worried that the pacemaker or leads were infected. But another Dr. said no, it was just the skin on top of it (where Dad was touching it) was infected.
Dad was started on 2 IV antibiotics and the wound care nurse was called in.
He had a hard time with being at the hospital and we immediately moved our home nursing staff to the hospital, so he isn't alone. He tends to try to get out of bed and escape. He didn't really sleep until last night. He did get some sleep and then today he didn't want to get up. He was swinging at and kicking at our nurse (Liz) and the hospital's nurses. Liz called me at 9am and asked if I could come up to try to get him up (I work a few hospitals over from where he is). I got there and he didn't want to move or wake up. Liz and I finally got him up (after a few swings and kicks) and I got him to take his pills and to eat breakfast. He wouldn't however get up to get changed. He was wet and so were the sheets.
I went back to work and then returned at noon for lunch. He was much better. He was up and cleaned, sitting in the chair and watching TV. He had a good lunch and I am back at work. I will go back at 3 pm (after work).
Overall, he is getting better. They want to keep him there for a few days to make sure that the antibiotics are working (Oh, they took him off one IV antibiotic and put him on the pill type) and the wound is healing. The Wound nurse came in between my morning visits and said it looked real good.
So hopefully he will go home no later than Monday.
I will let you know how things are going.
The pacemaker replacement went very well. We got to the hospital and of course, Dad wasn't on the list. After the nurse calling around, he found out that the Dr's office faxed the orders, but the Cath lab didn't get them, So they added him to the schedule. The person who was ahead of Dad had a longer proceedure and he didn't get to the cath lab until 4pm. It didn't take very long at all. Dad was back into his room at 5pm. The Dr. only had to replace the pacemaker and not the leads. They gave Dad dinner and sent us home by 6:15pm.
After he got back to the room, he called me over to his bed and told me "I've got something to tell you" I said "what" he said "quack, quack, quack." Yea, he was back to his old self. We got him and home and he was even walking like his old self. So all is good. It is nice for something to work like it is supposed to.
Love and hugs to all,Mary
Thu 1/12/2006 7:32 AMHere is the Eulogy that was read at Mom's Funeral. When I get a chance I will write, in detail what happend during her last few days. Sorry it has taken me a few days to send this out to you. Mary
ELEANORE DOMBROWSKI In having to write a eulogy for Mom, the foremost thoughts that occur to us are that we kids were so lucky to have Eleanore as our Mom. Mom was devoted, loving, a tough taskmaster at times, who ensured that we were given both roots and wings.
We were given roots in our traditional Catholic upbringing. Mom was very strong in her Catholic faith. We all went to Catholic schools for 12 years. That was very important to Mom and Dad that we had a good Catholic education.
We always knew that we didn’t have a stay at home Mom when stay at home Moms were the norm - because Mom was working to help pay our tuition. Mom and Dad’s strong sense of the importance of education, has helped all of us be successful “well educated” adults. They gave us our wings to figure out life, but were always there to help us when we needed it. Mom raised us to be Team Dombrowski.
When we were young, we were treated as members of the team. Family Saturdays consisted of team cleaning. We all had our assigned chores on Saturday mornings and Mom expected the results of our chores to meet her expectations. We all remember cleaning and dreaded Inspector Mom saying, “This room wasn’t cleaned!” We might have forgotten to empty the trash, leave a little Ajax in the sink, or forgotten to clean the back of the toilet seat. Mom expected us to do the job right.
Mom and Dad enjoyed their children. There were plenty of family Sunday outings going to state parks in the summer and visiting relatives. Mom and Dad took us on vacations every year. The most memorable include going to Canada and a three- week cross county trip to Yellowstone National Park. We took a camper on the trip to Yellowstone, and Mom had to cook, help set up camp every night, clean up and probably didn’t have too much fun. We kids really enjoyed family vacations so much that we decided to do so as adults. We had to stop them when Mom had her stroke, but family vacations will always be a special memory in our lives and we plan to continue the tradition when we can again.
Because of Mom, Christmas has always been a favorite family holiday. Mom made the Christmas Polish “Vigilia” a special tradition in the family. It was always fun to help make the potato soup, perogies, and dinner. We treasure the tradition of the breaking of the opoteck and the wine toast before we eat. It was always fun to help Mom make the dozens of cookies that she would bake each year. Mom was always worried that we kids had enough presents. Even when she thought that she was done buying, she would buy more – just in case. Our stockings were filled every year without fail. Mom would continue to make sure that we got plenty of gifts even when we were adults.
She also made other holidays special for us. How many 45 year olds would still got an Easter basket, Valentine’s and Halloween candy and cards? We did.
Eleanore was one of the first group of women permitted to enlist in the military after Pearl Harbor. She served as a WAVE in the US Navy, packing parachutes, which was lucky for us – for that is where she met her Eddie and our Dad who were married for 60 years this past November. She enjoyed working for 30 years as a civilian secretary and office manager for an engineering group in the Air Force. When we called Mom at work, she would cheerfully answer the phone “Missiles Branch, Mrs. Dombrowski.” Eddie retired from the base and Mom followed a few years later. They then followed their dream and retired to Florida, where they lived for about 16 years.
Mom was one of the most organized people that you could ever meet. She had the most detailed records imaginable. When Mom took over Aunt Jay’s finances, the bookkeeping would make an accountant proud. Ask to see our family record book. We almost knew when we had every boo – boo. She had lists and lists which made it fairly easy to follow her directions. She even had a list in her cabinet of the food preferences of her frequent visitors.
Mom was a wonderful caretaker. Mom took excellent care for Daddy after he had his stroke until she had hers. She made sure he took his pills on time, fed him the proper food, and devised quite a system of “doing his pills.” Mom had customized a pill case for Dad, so that he would never miss a dose of his numerous pills.
Mom gladly took over the care for Aunt Jay after she had her stroke and entered the assisted living facility. When we had health issues in our lives, Mom would be sure that she came to help nurse us back to health.
When we didn’t make the best decisions in our lives, we knew Mom was there to accept our mistakes for what they were, and help us however she could. Mom was a wonderful Busia to her beloved Andy and Matt. I think she secretly wished she would have had more grandchildren, and Mary complied by giving her 3 by marriage.
One of Tom’s favorite Busia stories about Andy was that Mom was visiting them in Indiana when Andy was about 4. Andy was “reading” a book, and Mom was curious to see if Andy could actually read. So, she asked Andy to read to her. Andy replied, “ Read the book yourself!”
Once she was present when Matt was presented a gold medal for being the fastest runner in the class. When Matt realized the medal was not real gold, he became upset. A week later Matt received a golden trophy from Busia with for being the fastest runner in his class. Matt beamed when he saw the trophy and it is still one of his most cherished possessions.
Mom was a dedicated worker. She was not one who needed praise or laud for her activities. After Dad had his stroke, Mom took over reigns and was president of the Different Strokes Club for 11 years. We were surprised to find out that she had actually been the president for that long.
She took her duties of being secretary for WAVE meetings very seriously. Joan remembers that when she was in the hospital waiting to have her heart surgery, that Mom asked her to type her WAVE notes. So, being the good daughter, Joan went home, typed her notes, and brought them to her to proof. Mom was not satisfied – she said she liked “newsy” minutes and spent the entire afternoon rewriting them.
She enjoyed being a part of the DeBary Garden Club. I don’t think they ever talked her into being an officer, but she faithfully watered the flowers at the library on a weekly basis. Mom always enjoyed bowling, and bowling was her outlet for some personal time when we were growing up. Mom bowled every Wednesday with the Strokes’ Club until her stroke.
Mom was also the hostess with the mostest. Mom enjoyed cooking and entertaining the “gang” of Florida aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was always fun to go there and enjoy a great meal and conversation. Mom took her hostess duties seriously. One time when Daddy’s van caught fire and burned in the driveway, Mom had made coffee and pulled out Danishes to offer to the firefighters. She was too busy performing her hostess duties than to be concerned with the van.
Eleanore who had never been in a hospital other than to have her kids, had open heart surgery in October 2003, and sadly had a massive stroke 4 days later. The Dombrowski kids and family had to pull together and become the Team Dombrowski that Mom and Dad had developed and nurtured when we were children. We found ourselves faced with decisions that we never thought we would have to face concerning Mom and Dad’s care. Eleanore faced her new fate with grace and courage. She always tried to help the nurses care for her. She still would try to take care of Dad by trying to fix his collar, wipe his chin, or making sure his shirt was tucked in.
She communicated her negative desires by giving us what we now affectionately called “The Hand”. Mom loved pink. She liked to wear pink, and she used pink in her decorating. She looked pretty in pink and in the last few years we made sure there was plenty of pink for her to wear. So whenever you wear pink, think of Eleanore. She will be smiling down on you. (And yes, real men wear pink too!)
In conclusion, Eleanore was a caring, nurturing, giving, compassionate woman. She had many wonderful times and touched many peoples’ lives. She faced her difficult times by relying on her Catholic faith and inner strength. We will all miss Eleanore’s wonderful sense of humor, gorgeous smile, and good cooking. However, God decided he wanted her now. She is at peace now, and will always be with us in our hearts and thoughts. We love you Eleanore! Rest in peace and keep everyone organized and in line up there in heaven!
