Thinking of Carl

March 1st I got a frightening call from Shirley about my brother Carl. He was in hospital in ICU at the Royal Alex Hospital; they were not sure if he would make it through the night.

Booking a flight, I made a quick trip to Edmonton; arrived at the hospital the next afternoon to find him quite unresponsive, although at times I believe he was aware that I was with him. He had 2 cardiac arrests during the first few hours following his arrival to the hospital, his blood pressure was very low and staff said if he were to suffer another cardiac arrest they would not be able to treat him because he was already receiving the medication that would be needed to treat the arrest. He underwent exploratory surgery in search of the cause of his condition and further surgery to close up the incision from that surgery (sounds strange to me but what do I know). Up to this point I don't believe they have found the cause of this upset. Spending four days in Edmonton, visiting each day, he seemed at times to improve and at times to go downhill. I returned home the evening of March 5th and it seemed that he was very slowly improving. 

The following days brought about the removal of the breathing tube, removal from continual dialysis (although he will remain on dialysis even when he is well enough to return home), regulation of his diabetes and removal of the feeding tube when he began eating on his own.

At this point we are hopeful that he will recover and I am hopeful that he will be able to return home again.

He misses Sparky (his dog) as I'm sure Sparky misses him and Carl would be ecstatic if Shirley were able to bring him up to visit. Hopefully he will be up soon and can go outside to have a short visit with him outside.

Carl, if you are able to read this............I want you to examine very closely, how we can possibly go out for coffee if you are going to continue laying in the bed you are in..........so I guess what I'm saying is 'get off your butt, get out of that bed and let's go out on the town'. I'm hoping to be able to have a visit with you on the phone soon (when Shirley brings up your Cell Phone). In the mean time I'm sending my usual special 'Magic Dust' to take very good care of you.........and hoping you are able to get home soon!
Stay tuned for the update!