Dad In The Intensive Care Unit

We’ve been at Henrico Doctors Hospital since late morning. Dad is in the ICU. He was admitted to the pulmonary care unit originally, but early this morning he experienced severe chest pain, and his blood pressure dropped to critical low levels. He mentioned that it was a good thing he was already in the hospital at the time of the chest pain – no knowing what would’ve happened otherwise. Thank God he is stable now and feeling better.

My sister, my brother, his wife and son came for the day, and my uncle and aunt, and cousin and husband came also to visit. Two people at a time were allowed to visit with my dad, so we all took turns visiting. Our family basically took over the waiting room. This is a fairly new hospital, and the waiting room is large with a lot of comfortable seating and natural lighting. There were three reclining chairs which Beryl, Kenton and I were able to get a bit of rest in. Other people would come into the waiting room, but when they saw us and the kids, they would walk out. Perhaps there was an invisible sign that said ‘The Roda Waiting Room.’ Although it was for an undesirable occasion, it was encouraging and enjoyable for the extended family to be together.

By 6:00 pm, Dad had finished dinner and was very tired. We all decided to go our separate ways. Later, Darrell, Shar, Jaiden and Mom went out to get some food. Beryl, Kenton & I, and the boys drove home. It was a long trip, because Kenton was fighting to stay awake – still dealing with the time difference from China. I wasn’t any help, because I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. We had to stop a couple of times to rest.

The boys: When we first walked into the hospital room, Brian kept looking at Grandpa. He had a pensive look on his face, like he was trying to figure out what all the tubes connected to Grandpa were for. Kevin kept asking Grandpa what was wrong with him. Grandpa said it was his heart and went into a lengthy explanation of how his other body parts were affected. Kevin stopped worrying after we told him that Grandpa would be fine in a few days.

Justin kept wanting to wash his hands with hand sanitizer. Every room and even the hallways and lobbies had a dispenser. When he would get some hand sanitizer, Brian would have to wash his hands also. I didn’t mind too much because it hopefully lessened the chance of them contracting some sickness from the hospital.

For lunch, we ordered by delivery from Pizza Hut. There were two tables for eating in the waiting room, and the boys sat down and devoured their pizza. Afterwards, all four grandsons played together for hours. It was like they had their own playroom. They each had brought toys and activities to do, so they kept busy the whole time. They especially liked playing tag and hide-and-go-seek. Kevin said it was like we had our own hotel room again, except much larger.

Thank you for continuing to keep my dad in your prayers.