It is hard writing this.. my father in law passed away 2 weeks ago in the ICU. He had been complaining of headaches and being very weak, so we got him hospitalized. By the second day, he's on the BiPAP machine which gives him oxygen via a pressurized mask. Because of the mask, they put in him a feeding tube and removed his dentures in case he swallows it. What we didn't know was that carbon dioxide is building in his blood. There is no machine or medication to remove it. On the day he passed away, the CO2 in his blood is 3 times that of normal human. That was one of the reason he had been getting headaches. We wanted to bring him home but there is no way to bring the BiPap machine into the ambulance. On the 8th day of hospitalization, he passed away peaceful while unconscious.
If you are going through this, think for yourself if hospitalization is what you want. During the 8 days in ICU was probably the worst. He could not eat, or talk through the mask, we could only visit him 2 person at a time during the 4 visiting hours. There is no TV, no one to talk to for the whole 8 days he was there. We might have gain 8 days more of his life in the ICU, but it was pricey.. difficult (we got chased out of the room many times by the nurses).. grandkids couldn't visit (only 12 years and above) and was generally a terrible experience. I understand the nurses are only doing their job, but I expect their job to include showing empathy. To this day, it haunt us to know his last few days was so hard, and sad. We couldn't move him out of ICU to normal ward or into the ambulance to go home.. because the BiPap machine needs to be plug into an Oxygen supply in the wall. By the 4th day he wants to go home, but there is just no way to bring him home without putting his life at major risk.
Life goes on. I am happy he is no longer suffering but I miss him...
