Update on Papa

Lee's dad (Papa) is still in CICU. He was diagnosed yesterday with an ileus (intestinal blockage) and pleural effusion (fluid around and inflamation of the lungs). The nurses attempted to put a tube down his nose into his stomach to release some of the built up fluid and air as he looked like he could deliver triplets at any moment. They tried to insert the tube six times without success. The doctor was notified and he said to hold off on any other attempts until today. He was in a lot of pain yesterday. Today his belly looks a little better and his pain is less. The doctor came in around 2 today and said that he looks better than yesterday. His echocardiogram on his heart came back almost normal which is a huge answer to prayer. He is on antibiotics for the pleural effusion. He also is getting Lasix which makes you get rid of excess fluid in your body.....then they are giving him iv fluids so he doesn't get dehydrated. Hmmm....See if you can figure that one out! He rested a lot today. I don't know if his days and nights are mixed up or if he's just tired after not having slept for three or four days. He will wake up and say hey, but he seems to not want to talk much. I'm sure he's exhausted. They are going to try to get him up to a sitting position tomorrow in his bed. The hospital beds can be made into a chair so we will try this to get him used to sitting up again. We don't know if the dizziness that he suffered with three years ago sitting up will return. CC is hanging in there. I can't imagine having to watch your spouse go through what Papa has been through. She hasn't left his side except at night when visitors aren't allowed. They are an amazing couple! Please keep Papa and our family in your prayers!

Buddy Collins (Lee's Dad....aka Papa)

I would ask everyone that reads this to please pray for our family. Early yesterday morning, Lee's dad was taken to the ER for chest pains. Turns out, he had a heart attack! They took him straight to the cath lab and did a heart cath. He had one artery that was completely blocked and they had to put three stents in, all in the same vessel. The bottom of his heart was damaged, to what extent we won't know for a while. He is now in Cardiac Intensive Care Unit or CICU. He had a rough day yesterday with low blood pressure and pain. He's not used to taking pain medicine so he has been sedated a lot with the medicines. He had a fair amount of internal bleeding last night and they had to give him a unit of blood. CC went home about 6:30 last night as no overnight visitors are allowed in that unit. I went to see him this morning. He had had some Ativan for agitation about 6am (we got there before 8) and we could not wake him up. That had him zonked. We tried and tried to get him awake, but no luck. His day nurse gave him a medicine to reverse the Ativan and Papa woke right up. He knew who we all were and was talking and asking about different family members. He still has quite a bit of pain and they gave him a half of a pain pill which knocked him out again! I stayed until the doctor came by about lunch time. He said there was damage to his heart, but hopefully it wouldn't be noticeable. If we can just get his pain under control and also keep him awake at the same time. I asked the doc if we could do a fourth of a pain pill or even just some Tylenol which makes him drowsy at home. He said that was fine. His blood pressure is still low and he is on a Dopamine drip (for all my nurse friends) currently. We are going to try to wean him off of this and the oxygen. If we can get blood pressure up, pain down, and oxygen gone....he could go home as soon as tomorrow. If there are still some issues and he's not better then he will stay a while longer. But it was good news from the doctor. Please keep us all in your prayers, but especially our Papa!

Sunday morning

These are a couple of pictures from this morning. We had just gotten home from church and she was too cute! She has enough hair now to get a bow in there. Lee is adjusting to the bows!! She doesn't realize it's there I'm sure, or it would be out in a heartbeat! She was all smiles....

Playdate with Nate

Christmas 2008

Christmas Picture

Santa 2008

The three of us went shopping in Greenville today and decided to stop by to see Santa. Caitlin was amazed by his beard, but knew better than to pull it. She just touched it and looked at him. The elves didn't allow much time for smiling, but at least she's not crying! There were other children around that had that part under control! Anyway, here's our precious gift....