Updates on my parents

Ok so for those that don't know yet.... life has been anything but normal! Let's go back a week....


Sunday - mom went into AGH to be regulated (blood) for surgery on Wednesday.

Wednesday - mom had surgery... went fantastic! Immediatly following she was up and moving around like she didn't even have any kind of operation!!!

Also Wednesday, my father's health (as most of you know) has gotten progressivly worse and worse and worse. Wednesday he looked horrible (partially contributed from stress from surgery on mom).

Thursday - after much yelling and screaming from a variety of family members, we finally convinced him to go to the hospital. He went to Canonsburg, was admitted and told he'd be seeing pulmonary doctors in the morning.

Friday - I went to work... mom was anticipating release so I figured I'd be closer to going to get her (seeing as how I was half way there). In the morning, Dad was moved to ICU... I stalled for about an hour at work waiting to see if mom was going to be released - she wasn't. So I went to Canonsburg.

Shortly after arriving, we were informed he was being moved to AGH because they couldn't do anything more for him there.

Basically, to make a long story short - where we stand now.......

He is in Allegheny General Hospital in MICU. Because of his size, they can not do some of the tests to determine what all is really going on. The doctors are treating it as if he has a blood clot and possibly Pneumonia. His size is also a factor in making any problem worse. He is sedated and on a respirator (sedation so he won't pull out the tubes). As of this morning, he was responsible when doctors were in - squeezing their hands in answer to questions. They also took him off sedation briefly this morning, gave him some water and then put him back under.

From what doctors have told us, this is going to be along healing process. Against our wishes, he let his health get progressivly worse and worse and now we're left trying to solve one problem at a time. We're certain he will be hospitalized for quite some time and from there who knows. There is no estimated time of recovery... it's just one day at a time. We're learning more and more each day.

Yesterday was a very long and emotional day. I haven't gone back to the hospital as of yet. They've been running tests and what not all morning so there wasn't much to be done. We're heading in shortly.

I tried to call as many people as I could to inform them of the situation but obviously our family is huge and I don't have everyone's number (and probably forgot a few people along the way). If I didn't call you, I'm sorry. I'll try to update the site as much as I can with information. Feel free to contact me anytime and I'll let you know what I know. I'll also post updates here so I can get info to the masses rather than calling a million people.

Currently, mom's still hospitalized on the 9th floor in AGH and Dad is on the 4th (I'm getting a lot of exercise, trust me). Hopefully, she will be coming home tomorrow.... I'm betting on it because then I have to contend with traffic from the Steeler game and that's my kind of luck.

Surprisingly, we're handling the situation ok. Keep us in your thoughts though and email me any time if you want a personal update (I'd post my phone number but I don't want some wacko accidently finding the website and calling me). But if you email me directly, I'll gladly give it to you. My email is hayleybykens@gmail.com and email anytime!

Thanks.