Oh no, I wasn't on the Forum for a few days, and come back to read about your dear Mark.  You guys will be in my prayers.  I'm glad to hear that you can be in the hospital with him.  I bet that's a big relief.  It would be so hard not to know what's going on.  Let us know when you know more.

I remember one night sitting on the floor with the grandson of a dying pt. He looked scared watching his parents cry in the room. He admitted he was afraid of “how hard it is to die” and “what will happen”. I reassured him that his grandpa would just stop struggling to breathe and relax his whole body, that I had seen it many times, and I had learned that dying was easy. I told him his parents were crying because they still had the only hard part to do. They had to go on living without him. We sat on the floor for a while and he began to relax. He ended up going into the room and taking his father’s hand, comforting him. Tell your sister she’s doing the hardest part of this so don’t be afraid for him. Dying is the easiest part. 

Peeing off 22lbs in two days isn’t a heart attack. It’s heart failure. He’s probably been in fib for a while but didn’t know it till his heart gave out. The fib could self resolve with the fluid off it and starting medication to increase cardiac efficiency.  You, Cathy, Viola, and Laura are making my life look easy.

Nyla he is in a really scarey place. This has been going on for quite some time. My daughters and I have had quite the conversations in the past few years but he was in total denial when we brought it up to him. He is waiting for a vest he will be wearing the next month to monitor his heart and record 24 7. I will try to call you later.

surprisingly the hospital food is not that bad. He complaing is mostly centered around still being in the hospital and being woken up all hour of the night. Hopefully he can leave today with lots of pills and instructions.  

What I do know so far is that this is very serious. He has a long way to go and it will be life-changing for diet, exercise, stress levels, medications, Dr visits and follow-up. 

Thanks hugs received.

Oh Ami.  I'm sorry to hear how serious this is - and scary.   Sending you hugs and keeping you both in my prayers.

Check your email.  We have started planning for our 2021 retreat and we need input from you guys.  We want everyone to be safe so we are probably going to make some changes.  I email everyone a survey a few days ago and if you can fill it out and send it back to us it will give us ideas on how to make it safe for everyone.  We have already gotten some great suggestions.

Carolyn

KSCarolyn said:

We have already gotten some great suggestions.

Bet you are talking about mine.