Friday, January 23, 2015

The Fragility of Life and Lung: My Dad's Severe Pneumonia Story

As published on The Huffington Post

The first message arrived midday on a Sunday, picking up the latest in the long paper and electronic trail that chronicles our family's health.

Mom, Jan. 4, 12:49 p.m.: Yesterday morning Dad woke up very sick. He has a terrible cough.
Mom, Jan. 5, 2:52 p.m.: Dad has the flu.
Mom, Jan. 6, 3:40 p.m.: Doc said Dad has to get down fluid. He spit up water twice. If he can't, I have to take him to an urgent care clinic. Don't come home! This is highly contagious.
Dad, Jan. 7, 2:15 p.m.: I will be visiting the doctor again today. I had a very bad night last night and I am very weak. You must stay away from the house.

When I was 4 years old, my dad lived on red meat and his total cholesterol reached 300. His doctor began him on Lipitor -- a cholesterol-reducing medication -- and told him he must change his lifestyle through diet and exercise or else he'd have a heart attack.

When my dad played music with his band on Saturday nights, my mom would take my older brother, JD, and me to Pizza Hut. This was our only chance to eat pizza. My dad quit eating most everything besides poultry and broccoli. My dad hasn't eaten steak in 27 years.

Mom, Jan. 7, 4:40 p.m.: Dad lost 6 lbs from not eating. He keeps wanting to go to the hospital. Yesterday the doc told him he didn't need it.
Me, Jan. 7, 5:00 p.m.: Holy crap. I've never seen him want to be admitted to a hospital before.
Dad, Jan. 7, 6:11 p.m.: The doctor has added a strong antibiotic to calm the cough. I hope that it works. She was confident that it would work. I also had a chest X-ray to determine if I had pneumonia.
Dad, Jan. 8, 9:02 a.m.: The X-ray led to a pneumonia diagnosis.
JD, Jan. 8, 9:12 a.m.: Man this is scary. Anything we can do? Keep reading, here.

Leia Mais…

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

My Dad is Sylvester Stalloneing Pneumonia

My dad has been at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center since Friday, January 9, 2015, with the flu and pneumonia. Many of his wonderful family, coworkers and friends have been reaching out to us to wish him a complete and speedy recovery. I decided to collect these messages in one place so please post a comment here for my dad if you wish (by clicking the "comment" link below). You are not required to include a Sly reference in your comment, but it can't hurt. If you and my dad share mutual friends then please share this with them.

I will not update this blog like a CaringBridge. There is nothing wrong with CaringBridge but since I pretend that all my blog posts are of high quality, I'll forgo quantity updates. I also do not know if my dad would appreciate public updates. We are thrilled that so many people care about my dad and want updates, but we can't keep up with the number of inquiries. For groups (for example, his coworkers and his Sylvester Stallone fan club members [joke, I think]): please designate one point of contact to obtain updates from me, my brother or my mom.

Thank you.

XOOXOXXOOXXOXOOXOXXOXOOXXOOXOXXO
-the Rubenstein family


Leia Mais…