Hospital Stays

No pictures today. Dad took a fall and wound up in the hospital. At first, the most worrisome thing is that he’s been getting dizzy a lot lately, and there didn’t seem to be a good explanation. But then, once we got to the hospital and they did a battery of tests, they discovered that he had hit his head (he said he didn’t), and that there was some intracranial bleeding. This is of particular concern because in the last few weeks he’s been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and prescribed a blood thinner called Eliquis. So, although the amount of bleeding wasn’t extensive, there was significant worry that with the blood thinner, it could get worse over night.

As near as we can figure it, the fall happened around 9am. We initially called the Mayo Clinic to see what could be done about his dizziness, and the nurse on call recommended a trip to the ER. It seems like we got checked into the ER shortly after 11, certainly before 11:30a. Then, we spent the day there waiting for tests, test results, a room to open up in the ICU for them to monitor him overnight. If we are lucky, the evening’s CT scan will show no additional bleeding, and they will be ready to release him tomorrow.