Dad had his bone marrow stem cell transplant Monday the 18th, after a week of chemo to wipe out his immune system. The transplant went well and Dad was feeling rather well - considering all the chemo and the balancing act of keeping the graft (his brother's stem cells) from rejecting the host (Dad). He was nauseous at times, but meds were controlling that decently.
This past Sunday morning, my Mom called to tell me that Dad was feeling crappy that day and that he'd rather not have any visitors. I just figured the chemo effects were really kicking in big time and didn't really think much of it and went about my day. Sunday night, around 7, Mom called and said the hospital called her and told her that we need to all come in right away - that Dad was having blood pressure control problems, that his breathing was weak. They put him in the ICU, intubated him and had him on major blood pressure meds to keep his pressure up. At first they did tests to rule out a blood clot and heart problem and then they ruled out pneumonia. They determined that Dad got an infection that caused him to go into septic shock. They were not able to tell what caused the infection, but are still working on the cultures that they took to see if anything turns up.
Monday was a very important day for Dad. They said he needed to show improvement yesterday. He did not. In fact, last night he got much worse. The blood pressure meds were not keeping his pressures up anymore. Transfusions were not helping. Finally, around 2am Tuesday morning , he began to fail. No pulse at first and then his blood pressure just dropped to nothing. His heart stopped beating. He had a living will, so we did not have them try to bring him back (not that that would have helped at that point). It was so sad. It was kind of unreal. I felt like it was happening to someone else, like I was looking in from the outside.
Dad's brain this whole time was a-ok. He was very alert and responsive basically his whole time in the ICU. Everyone commented on how responsive he was, considering how sick he was. He couldn't talk because of the respirator, but he shook his head yes and no, blinked, moved his hands around to answer our questions. He was restrained so that he couldn't yank the tube out of his mouth, but he kept trying to get out of bed! He kept moving his legs off the bed! All this while being sedated. He was a stinker and a fighter, my dad.
An odd thing, kinda freaky, kinda cosmic. Dad started leaving us at 2am, and Tony told me at 2am Cam woke up crying. What do you think of that? Isn't that something? It's amazing.
We are doing ok. We kept very busy today, making funeral and entombment arrangements (Dad will be "buried" in a mausoleum). As long as I'm busy, I seem to be "fine" but when I sit and think about things, I get all emotional. The visitation/viewing/lay out (depending on where you are from!) is Thursday night and the service and entombment are Friday morning. Dad's family is Catholic, but we are not having a mass since Dad was not a practicing Catholic and wasn't religious at all. We are having a priest do a short service Friday (mostly for his family's benefit).
Here is his obituary from the Cincinnati Enquirer:
SANTINI Joseph Thomas, beloved husband of Jackie Santini (nee Bailey), survived also by two daughters Melanie Maddox and Amy Santini, five brothers and five sisters and one grandchild. Joseph was an Army Veteran of the Vietnam era and was a Bus Driver for TANK (Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky). Tuesday, October 26, 2004. Age 58. Services will be at 10 A.M., Friday, October 29 at Fares J. Radel Funeral Home, 2048 Alexandria Pike, Highland Heights, KY 41076. Visitation will be from 5-9 P.M., Thursday at the funeral home. Entombment will be in Evergreen Mausoleum, Southgate, KY. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Jewish Hospital Bone Marrow Transpant Unit, 4777 E. Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45236.
It looks like the Kentucky Post obit won't be published until tomorrow.
This past Sunday morning, my Mom called to tell me that Dad was feeling crappy that day and that he'd rather not have any visitors. I just figured the chemo effects were really kicking in big time and didn't really think much of it and went about my day. Sunday night, around 7, Mom called and said the hospital called her and told her that we need to all come in right away - that Dad was having blood pressure control problems, that his breathing was weak. They put him in the ICU, intubated him and had him on major blood pressure meds to keep his pressure up. At first they did tests to rule out a blood clot and heart problem and then they ruled out pneumonia. They determined that Dad got an infection that caused him to go into septic shock. They were not able to tell what caused the infection, but are still working on the cultures that they took to see if anything turns up.
Monday was a very important day for Dad. They said he needed to show improvement yesterday. He did not. In fact, last night he got much worse. The blood pressure meds were not keeping his pressures up anymore. Transfusions were not helping. Finally, around 2am Tuesday morning , he began to fail. No pulse at first and then his blood pressure just dropped to nothing. His heart stopped beating. He had a living will, so we did not have them try to bring him back (not that that would have helped at that point). It was so sad. It was kind of unreal. I felt like it was happening to someone else, like I was looking in from the outside.
Dad's brain this whole time was a-ok. He was very alert and responsive basically his whole time in the ICU. Everyone commented on how responsive he was, considering how sick he was. He couldn't talk because of the respirator, but he shook his head yes and no, blinked, moved his hands around to answer our questions. He was restrained so that he couldn't yank the tube out of his mouth, but he kept trying to get out of bed! He kept moving his legs off the bed! All this while being sedated. He was a stinker and a fighter, my dad.
An odd thing, kinda freaky, kinda cosmic. Dad started leaving us at 2am, and Tony told me at 2am Cam woke up crying. What do you think of that? Isn't that something? It's amazing.
We are doing ok. We kept very busy today, making funeral and entombment arrangements (Dad will be "buried" in a mausoleum). As long as I'm busy, I seem to be "fine" but when I sit and think about things, I get all emotional. The visitation/viewing/lay out (depending on where you are from!) is Thursday night and the service and entombment are Friday morning. Dad's family is Catholic, but we are not having a mass since Dad was not a practicing Catholic and wasn't religious at all. We are having a priest do a short service Friday (mostly for his family's benefit).
Here is his obituary from the Cincinnati Enquirer:
SANTINI Joseph Thomas, beloved husband of Jackie Santini (nee Bailey), survived also by two daughters Melanie Maddox and Amy Santini, five brothers and five sisters and one grandchild. Joseph was an Army Veteran of the Vietnam era and was a Bus Driver for TANK (Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky). Tuesday, October 26, 2004. Age 58. Services will be at 10 A.M., Friday, October 29 at Fares J. Radel Funeral Home, 2048 Alexandria Pike, Highland Heights, KY 41076. Visitation will be from 5-9 P.M., Thursday at the funeral home. Entombment will be in Evergreen Mausoleum, Southgate, KY. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Jewish Hospital Bone Marrow Transpant Unit, 4777 E. Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45236.
It looks like the Kentucky Post obit won't be published until tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment