ER visit and surgery

nancyj194

Over the weekend my DH was not well. He didn't want to eat, seemed unsteady on his feet and complained of a stomach ache.  

On Sunday morning, we were at our son and his finacee's for breakfast. DH picked through his food and ate maybe a teaspoon of scrambled eggs. He said his stomach ached, so our son walked him to the bathroom. He could only urinate. 

As we settled  him on the sofa, he began to tremble all over and seemed somewhat distressed.

I took him home and be slept in his recliner off and on. Early Monday morning, I called our family physician and they got him in at 1:30 pm. The doctor determined it was DH's appendix, so sent us off to the ER. We were there by 2:30 and by 9:00 pm, he was having his appendix out.

I stayed at the hospital with our son until midnight after talking with the surgeon. 

DH did well through the surgery, but they did discover he has a-fib, so had to treat that before they operated.  The appendix had some gangrene, so that was cleaned out and a few other small problems were apparent, but everything turned out well when the surgery was over.

The doctor said DH would be sedated so I could leave, which I did. I am up early to go to the hospital, as I want to talk to the surgeon when she visits at 8:00 am.

I am quite exhausted  as sleep would not come last night. 

BethL

I'm sorry you and your husband are dealing with this. I prayed for rest and peace for you, and for healing for your husband.  Beth

Ed1937

Nancy, I'm sorry you are both going through that. When things like this happen, sleep seems to be hard to come by. I hope things continue to go well for him, and you have a much better day.

Palmetto Peg

Try to rest or nap today.  How long will he be in the hospital?  After he recuperates a little, you may find him easier to deal with.  An appendix doesn't just go bad all at once.  He likely hasn't felt well off and on for a while.  Prayers for healing for him and rest for you!  I'm so sorry that you have to deal with something like this!

Quilting brings calm

Yes, please rest or nap.  Also try to just relax in your own home a little while he is in the hospital.  Maybe run an errand or visit a friend.  He may be in there a few days… or not. It’s hard  to tell these days.  They don’t like to keep anyone for any length of time. 

nancyj194

Hi everyone, thank you for the replies. 

I brought my DH home late yesterday afternoon. It was a long process getting everything done before we could leave. 

He has no pain and is doing quite well, for which I am thankful.

This morning, he was very serious and wanted to have a meeting with our son and me to see where he had been. I took a moment to digest this, as every time the nurse would come in, she would ask him where he was and why was he there, along with his name and date of birth.

Each time he would respond correctly, but would only pat his stomach when she asked why.  

She would not question him any further and actually thought he did so amazingly well for someone with Alzheimer's. I have learned through this journey that people with early/mid stage Alzheimer's are very good at hiding things and/or bluffing their way. 

I explained everything to DH and listened to him say that the place he was at was next to a big computer room with a lot of nice people there.  He had no clue who the people were.  

I did manage to sleep better last night. 

Nancy

Ed1937

That's great news, Nancy. Thanks for the update. I'm glad he thought the people were nice. It could have gone the other way.

nancyj194

Ed, indeed, it was good he did like the people. I am still shocked he had no idea where he was. 

At least that explains why he kept setting the bed alarm off when he tried to get out of bed. I kept reminding him to push the call button for the nurse. Now I know why he never did. ha

Last night, as we watched TV,  he got up and stood in front of me asking what he had his finger on. His hand was under his pajama tops and I said that I couldn't see. He started yelling at me to look. I got up and found an EKG lead on his side, just down from his arm pit.

Hopefully this anger will go away, as I became quite stressed. He was always angry and yelled constantly throughout our 56 year marriage. Alzheimer's has mellowed him out, so very much. 

Perhaps he will revert back to his old ways. I'm not sure I can survive this if he does. 

Well, we gather strength from those on here who have made it through.

Nancy