He was escorted there by two uncles. From that point on, I had to rely on email updates and the occasional phone call to Taiwan. Things started going downhill about 3 weeks ago. The stories about the elderly having a major surgery or stay in the hospital and never leaving seemed to be coming true. The lung infection developed into a type of pneumonia, and the difficulty in breathing led to pain and sort of a half-asleep, half-waking state. He also developed edema, a stomach ulcer, and even a fracture was identified in his neck. Doctors decided to move him to the ICU.
The whole family (mother's generation) managed to get out to Taiwan to be with him in case it was time for him to go. Displaying his typical spirit however, he refused to go so easily, and has sort of bounced back. The latest is another uptick for the better:
"This is a milestone day for yeye; doctor removed the breathing tube this afternoon without any problem. He had a couple days of "practice" before this. When I saw yeye at 2, and again at 7, he was breathing normally with oxygen mask and the O2 sat was 98%. Doctor said he is doing fine and if everything goes well he will move yeye out of ICU to regular floor on Monday.
He had the dialysis yesterday late in the day. This morning doctor told us that 5 kg of fluid was removed from his body, and the chest x-ray showed much improvement. Based on that the doctor made his decision for removing the tube. Except for his left hand, he does not show much sign of edema. His left hand (paralyzed from the stroke?) still is pretty swolllen and the skin is shiny. I will ask the doctor in the morning if there is anything can be done since dialysis apparently did not work on the left hand.
Yeye is still very weak, but he would open his eyes (barely) when we tell him who we are. He can not talk yet. At one point tonight, he gestured with his hand and we thought he wanted to write. We put a pen in his hand but he was too weak to even hold the pen. Nurse wants us to continue to work with him moving his joints, which is what Isaac and I did every time we visited him.
Tomorrow I will leave yeye and head back to US. I am hesitating telling him that in fear that he might react badly. Since there will be at least one family member at his bed side for the next couple weeks, I may decide not to tell him that I am leaving. If he asks (hope), whoever is with him can just tell him that chung ping had to go back home to take care of Billie."
He had the dialysis yesterday late in the day. This morning doctor told us that 5 kg of fluid was removed from his body, and the chest x-ray showed much improvement. Based on that the doctor made his decision for removing the tube. Except for his left hand, he does not show much sign of edema. His left hand (paralyzed from the stroke?) still is pretty swolllen and the skin is shiny. I will ask the doctor in the morning if there is anything can be done since dialysis apparently did not work on the left hand.
Yeye is still very weak, but he would open his eyes (barely) when we tell him who we are. He can not talk yet. At one point tonight, he gestured with his hand and we thought he wanted to write. We put a pen in his hand but he was too weak to even hold the pen. Nurse wants us to continue to work with him moving his joints, which is what Isaac and I did every time we visited him.
Tomorrow I will leave yeye and head back to US. I am hesitating telling him that in fear that he might react badly. Since there will be at least one family member at his bed side for the next couple weeks, I may decide not to tell him that I am leaving. If he asks (hope), whoever is with him can just tell him that chung ping had to go back home to take care of Billie."
A lot of people pulling for him, but we've also come to the conclusion that we just want the pain and suffering to be minimized and don't want to push our desire for him to go on onto him if it involves more trauma. In the past, he's indicated many times his desire to go. It's in divine hands now.
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