day 3 in room 409

Hi friends hi hi hi hi hi.

First of all, thank you so much for the love and support. There isn't much anyone can do to help right now, but the outpouring of kindness and concern we've seen and felt has been both inspiring and humbling. There is a lot of good left in the world, and we are grateful witnesses.

Since Tuesday when he first got admitted into the hospital, not a lot has changed with my dad's overall condition. He's had ups and downs in his day-to-day strength and energy levels, but the infection is still there and eluding identification. However, even though things are more or less the same, we have gotten an unreal amount of information and updates in the last 24 hours. Here is an abridged list of today's events.

- Dad was pretty tired this morning and found out his blood pressure was really low. The doctors were actually afraid there was a blood leak somewhere in his heart causing his blood pressure to sink.

- Dad went to get another CT scan on his heart (his second since Tuesday) to get some images from that region
- They found blood cells in his urine so in order to tell if the bleeding was really going on, he had to poop in a "hat"...which he enjoyed more than he probably should have

thankfully he hasn't lost his sense of humor am i right😅

- We were all in a good mood and things were fine but someone came in and accidentally mentioned that if dad wants to shower like he's wanted to today, he should do it now because he could be going into surgery soon to fix the leak as it was getting urgent. We all kind of sat there in confused shock and waited for the doctor to come give an official statement of his own
- After a while, Dad ate lunch while listening to acdc's Back in Black with a lot of attitude...aka he seemed really normal. Dad stuttered over a piece of chicken and apparently his heart stopped for 5.2 seconds. He felt it but didn't pay it much mind...but seven nurses literally ran into the room while he calmly continued eating his chicken. Typical Tony...he was in a good place and stayed there, even after all that.

- We heard that they'd talked to the PA about the heart stopping and leakage and whatnot and he said that he's thinking they actually won't need surgery at this point (!!!). Sweet relief.

- Tia went on her first date (congratulations Tia) and he was kind enough to do it in a hospital cafeteria to be accommodating

- Dr. Doty himself made an appearance and said that things are in about the same place as they've been. It's still looking like the antibiotics alone won't be enough to fight the infection, especially if things like irregularity of rhythm in his heart continue or increase. He reiterated that my dad's heart is in a fragile position and that if they have to operate to remove the abscess, there's a decent chance there wouldn't be enough healthy tissue there to put it back together again. 

- We found out that Chick Fil A delivers to this hospital and there was a Modern Family marathon on USA Network. #blessed

Even though that last interaction with the doctor was nothing new, it was still hard to remember. The range of emotion we've felt in the last few days has matched the oscillation of information we've received. However, peace has come in many forms and moments this week. From the love of others to the optimism and fight of my dad to the reminder that regardless of the outcome, Jesus is still the victor, there has been a lot of goodness and that's what we're trying to focus on. 

tl;dr, Tony is fighting the good fight. We are hopeful. Life is heavy but God is good.

x - nela