I'm giving a late night update. This is probably the only time I'll be able to for a few days anyway...and who knows if I'll want to then.

So much has happened in the last few days...it's all be surreal. I've totally lost track of time and days..I don't even know where to start.

In case you are a regular visitor...no, my dad didn't get the liver yet.

On Tuesday night, I didn't go to the hospital because I was still feeling quite cruddy. I did go Wednesday after work and although he seemed tired, nothing big. He talked, we talked, he told us he didn't want anything in the way of reading material or the like. We all said goodnight around 6:30 and went home. No big deal.

Thursday morning around 8:15, I called the nurses desk (as you have to do when a patient is in ICU) and just inquired as to how he was. I've done this just about every day, since it's easier to call when I get to work and get an update, rather than call mom at home and potentially wake her from any much needed rest. At any rate, I called and the nurses put me on hold. After a minute or two they came back and said, "Your dad's nurse is busy with another patient, so he can't talk to you right now. He said it would be best if you just called your mom and got an update on your dad." I thought it was strange and said, well...ok. I was online at work and noticed my mom was online too. I went to her and asked her if she had checked on Daddy this morning yet and she said she had called at 2 a.m. They told her he was a bit confused, nothing serious. I told her what they had said to me and she said she would call and find out what was going on. We were thinking that maybe they had lost the card that said who could have information and were not telling me by way of that.

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Somewhere around 8 Wednesday night, my dad had begun to get confused. As the night progressed, his confusion continued. When the night nurse went in to check him for the last time on her rounds, he was totally unresponsive. He wouldn't open his eyes, respond to voices or do anything. That was at 6 a.m. They took him straight down for a CAT scan, fearing he'd had a stroke. When I called, the morning nurse was in fact busy, but he assumed the family had been notified about my father's drastic change in status.

My sister called me a little later from the hospital and told me to come down. He was unconcious, they had inserted a tube and things were going crazy. After breaking down at work, I left...went to the hospital, totally unprepared for what I walked in on. The night before he was fine, talking and in good spirits. Now, he was not there. I was scared, my mom was wigging out--she had called everyone in to the hospital, which gives off this "We've got to call the family together" vibe. I don't know what else to say about it, other than I was scared. More scared than I have ever been in my entire life I do believe.

The doctors have said he has an infection, which is causing encephaolgy (spelling could be way off here) which is where toxins build up in the blood and just cause the brain to go hazy. HE's had it before, when he was confused, but never to this extint. It is treatable and they have him on mega doses of broad spectrum antibiotics.

As of today, Friday...He's a little better. He's more alert, he's trying to talk, he's not totally there, but he is a lot more responsive than Friday. If he keeps coming around and clears up, they will move him out of ICU tomorrow, in to a regular room.

We also learned from the doctor that he will probably not leave the hospital until he get's his transplant. This hospital thing could go on for months...Let's hope that doesn't happen. I don't want him to spend the next month or so in a freakin hospital.

The doctor is positive though...he says that he's seen people a lot sicker than my father get a transplant no problem. When he was talking to us Thursday, he likened it to a marathon race. Everyone has to keep their stamina up...there are highs and lows in this, but it's still a race..and he needs us all to stay with him in it. I think he was saying it mostly for the benefit of my mom...because she was going off the deep end. Thank goodness she is on Lexipro...had she not been on something, I have zero doubt in my mind that they would have been pulling a bed out for her too... Could you imagine walking in on that? I mean, could you imagine had I not called...had she just walked in like normal to see him out cold with a tube down his throat? I'm glad I called...didn't totally take the shock away...but at least it kinda prepared us for a really ugly scene.

At any rate, I'm so emotionally and physically tired right now that I think I could lay down on nails and it would be all good :)

xoxo