Anyway, while the docs were waiting for the 24-hour test to cycle through, Dad went into another episode of Atrial Fibrulation. This is, I think, the third time in three days.

So, the docs placed him on the IV blood pressure reducer thing. And, again, he was medicated nearly to death. His blood pressure reading was lower than at Auburn.

The nurse took him off the IV for a while and he started to recover a little, but the Atrial Fibrulation started again, so they upped the dose of the Cartizam or whatever it is. Again he was slipping into coma. They couldn�t find the happy medium between relaxed heart and life.

*shrugs*

So, finally they took him off the IV completely. Dad started getting better. The docs tried him on a different kind of blood pressure reducer things. They called it Beta Blockers. They put him on oral Bella Dona and Lo Pressor. I don�t know if those are spelled correctly and right now I don�t give a shit.

This was all by Wednesday midmorning. It was an absolutely horrendous Tuesday and Wednesday morning cause the docs were medicating my father to death. Much as I would like to think I can handle it all, that really wierded me out. I couldn�t handle the thought of my Dad being dead, ya know? What was worse was knowing that the meds they had him on were the cause of his nearing death. It was not a good week.

Anyway, Wednesday afternoon he was feeling much, much better. He looked normal. And I mean that. He had good color in his cheeks, he was talking and entertaining and having a good time� well, as good a time as can be had when you�re in the hospital.

Doc Miller came into the room Wednesday afternoon to talk with Mom and Dad about the possibility of by-pass surgery and the possibilities of angioplasty. The doc said that the front part of Dad�s heart was completely necrotic. He said that to do a by-pass was really a waste of time because that part of the muscle was dead and to open him up, take his ribs apart and do a by-pass for the parts of heart which were still alive, simply wasn�t worth the possible result.

He said that most people�s hearts pump out about 70 to 75 percent of the blood, that normal function of a healthy heart was to pump out that much. He also said that normally, when someone was only pumping out between 25 and 30 percent, they were candidates for by-pass surgery. He then said that he was surprised that Dad was still alive because Dad�s heart was only pumping out between 10 and 15 percent.

The doc said that the plan was to do some Angioplasty thing and use a stent or some such� that they would attempt to expand the arteries, allowing a little more blood flow. He said that was a far less invasive surgery and one which posed far fewer risks than actual surgery.

Shit. I�m tired and I feel like writing this is requiring me to live through it again. *sighs* It�s such a pain in the ass. I hate, absolutely hate, thinking about my dad being dead. I hate it!

Anyway, we prayed over him a lot. A whole lot. We had him anointed by a minister. The whole family prayed over him. We really turned him over to God, wanting him to stay alive, but not knowing how to help, ya know?

So, Wednesday night the doc told us that he would discuss the options with the angioplasty specialist and the cardiologist and talk with us Thursday morning with their decision about what to do. He said that most likely they would do some sort of angioplasty and again told us that the by-pass really wasn�t an option because of the necrotic tissue.

Mom and I get to the Hospital Thursday morning and talk with Dad a lot. It was so scary. I really, really didn�t want to think about him being sick anymore.

We prayed about it more, as if we hadn�t ever done that before. *chuckles* And, we waited for the doc to come. He finally showed up at about 11 or so and was so very excited. He was thrilled to bits.

He came into the room and told us that they re-examined the tests and results and all this and discovered that the front part of his heart wasn�t necrotic after all, that there was still quite healthy tissue there. The Doc said that they wanted to do a by-pass as soon as possible and said that he�d send in the various people to give us the information about the surgery and such.

We were all floored. Here we�d been told that at least a third of Dad�s heart was dead and that surgery wouldn�t help and would actually be more damaging than fixing. Then they tell us that we might be able to get the angioplasty to open a couple arteries so Dad would be at 30 to 40 percent as opposed to 10 to 15.

Mom and Dad said that they didn�t know what to say� Dad didn�t know if he wanted the surgery or not. So, the doc said that he had to know by 3pm whether we were going to do it or not. If Dad opted for the surgery, he could be out of the hospital by next Tuesday.

*shakes her head*

Two different ladies came, giving information about the by-pass surgery, what Dad�s limitations would be and how difficult the surgery would be. Dad was pretty much resigned to needing the surgery until his room mate moved in.

The room mate had just had by-pass surgery. He was in a hell of a lot of pain and was uncomfortable. He was not a happy camper. Dad listened to him for a while, whimpering, wheezing and such�