Friday, April 3

8.45am report: I just called and checked in and dad was able to stay the night in the ICU. I’m not sure about the specifics of that stay, and I have no information as to how he is doing. Apparently the ICU has become totally inundated and nurses are no longer picking up phone calls from families. They have arrange times throughout the day to call families, so we sit and wait.

Now remember there is always a chance that dad might have to be re-intubated. The good news is we would have gotten a phone call for the procedure. So apparently he was able to make it another night on the nasal prong.

9.20pm report: Well after calling in a couple of times today with no luck, i have finally been able to get in touch with Nurse Dan. Dad is now in the Telemetry unit where he is fairly stable and obviously doing a bit better, or else ‘they would not have transferred him out’. The telemetry unit is a step down unit where they are still constantly monitoring all functions however breathing assistance is not urgent. He is alert, not lethargic, yet still a bit disoriented and they are attributing that to days on sedation in the ICU. His oxygen is holding steady at 90% and they are keeping an eye on his troponin levels as they show to be slightly elevated. Troponin, or the troponin complex, is a complex of three regulatory proteins that is integral to muscle contraction in skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle. When these are a bit elevated, it elevates the heart rate as well. Dads heart rate is showing slight elevation so they are closely watching that. So we wont chat with a Dr. today, but I will call again, tirelessly tomorrow. They did warn us that we are entitled to just 1 phone call a day as the patient load had really picked up and not much time for updates. Ill get past that.

FYI: The heart releases troponin into the blood following an injury, such as a heart attack. Very high troponin levels usually mean that a person has recently had a heart attack. I have a follow up call into dad to check and see exactly what his levels are…

Family report: Just heard back from Nurse Dan as i recently called and left a message that i had a few more questions. As it turns out his troponin levels when measured this am were high at 6.4 - that is a sure indicator of a heart episode. He is currently on Herprin, a blood thinner, to prevent any further clots to his heart. Also, they are administering all meds via IV at this time as he is still unable to swallow and it was too much of a disturbance to try to get a tube through his nose into his stomach. So all in all, he is stable and they are keeping a steady eye on his heart and kidneys. Try to get some sleep - Love you all…

So just spoke to family friend and MD George and the pace maker is set in place to control the heart rate - has nothing to do with a heart attack……it simply maintains the heart rate - previously he had a partial heart block and the pace maker kicks in when your heart rate changes - so it keeps your heart rate constant. Troponin shows damage to the heart muscle - George says definitely a heart attack.

"It is likely that even in the absence of previous heart disease, the heart muscle can be affected by coronavirus disease,"

Fun zoom call with friends today to take my mind off things....