Update for my father Andrew So Poo Giap

[Chris So]

Dear family and friends,

Greetings from cold Canada, I hope all is well with everyone. By now you'll likely have heard that my father is in Toronto East General hospital struggling to overcome pneumonia.

Just to give you a bit of back ground, this all started on Wednesday, innocently enough after mom and dad finished a meal at a local all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet restaurant. This is a favorite treat for dad and something he looks forward to once every once in a while. As mom was paying, dad was finishing pieces of desert, perhaps a some glutenous dumpling balls. According to mom, he slumped over. They called 911 and a waiter had to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre.

An ambulance took him away and he was in ICU for 16 hours. Doctors tell me that the Heimlich is pretty violent, especially for the elderly and can expose the upper chest to extreme pressures to tear or bruise tissue and break ribs. Further, they explain, that often food/bile/stomach acid/vomit/foreign material can enter the lungs and cause an infection within a day or two. Dad's x-rays show an area in his right lung that cause some concern. Since the episode he has trouble maintaining O2 saturation level in his blood. Un-aided, it keeps dropping quickly to as low as 74% SpO2 as compared to a healthy person @ 96%+ SpO2 . At the beginning he was given 75%-90% O2, so that he could maintain an SpO2 in the mid 90's. The staff are trying to get him to survive on room air and have gradually tried to decrease the O2 by 10% increments. As of yesterday afternoon, he has reached 50% O2, with 40% O2 not that successful.

The second day seemed pretty good and dad was pretty lucid. He was transferred to a respiratory ward. Yesterday he had very loud groggy breathing and with the onset of the predicted lung infection, was given antibiotics.

He has trouble swallowing, so cannot really eat or drink, nor is he supposed to in his condition. He has not eaten since the restaurant, which he has mostly thrown up. The only thing he "drank" was thickened water, the consistency and texture of apple sauce which he did not like.

You may also know that his health over the past few years has been in gradual downward slope. He has poor balance, is hunched over, and needs a walker to steady him. He has increasing short term memory loss and can get confused easily. Around October 2014 he went out to what was supposed to be a quick run to buy orange juice, 3-5 minutes minutes north from the house. He wound up at Bayview and Eglinton 25 minutes away south. He failed to stop and ran into 4 cars waiting at a red light. He couldn't explain why he was at going south that far away from the house when he should be north, just a few blocks from the house. So I agreed with the Dr. and police to initiate the process to pull his drivers license.

Those of you that have visited my parents house at 47 Wycliffe will know the state it is in. It is certainly not safe for someone unsteady on his feet. About 18 months ago I was able to fill a 20 cubic meter dumpster container and it haul it away full of stuff and you still couldn't notice a difference. Every sq meter of surface in that house has something on it. Dad has always objected or dismissed the notion to move or down size brought up his friends/family, my wife Steph and me. In October 2015 Steph, now a real estate agent, came across a townhouse that had ground level bedrooms that would be perfect for mom and dad. This house is only 3 minutes away from me. They are currently 45-75 minutes away from me depending on traffic. In November we put in an offer on this house and bought it Dec 10 with the intention of gradually moving them to this house over the course of several months. Mom is in agreement on the house process but dad has NOT BEEN TOLD of the house decision or the intention to move him. Since Dec. 10 I was prepping this house so that they could transition and meet dad's needs more easily for everyone, especially mom. If dad can recover,  it looks pretty good to have him go straight to the new house so that he can get nursing and agency support visits right away.

Will keep you posted on further developments. Thank you.

Chris



 

[Chris So]

Hello all,

Thanks for your wonderful wishes and kind thoughts. Dad is improving and his doctor is pleased with the progress he is making.
Today he was forced to stand up up and walk to a wheel chair and sit in it for some time. He had an x-ray swallowing test with his swallow therapist so she could study dads swallowing mechanics.
He is somewhat lucid, drifting in and out of sleep. Was able to rinse his mouth on his own.

Attached a pic and vid.

Chris

[Johannes Masduki]

TQ Chris for ur informative e-mail.  Glad to hear that Poo Giap's health is improving. Hope he will soon be healthy and strong again. Our greetings 2 JONG.

                                                                                               TGwan and fam.

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[anggraeni sudarma]

Dear Kie Han ,

Nice to hear about  oom Poo Giap's health improvement.
It's good to see  that he already learned walking.

Hoffnung fur schnelle wieder herstellung !!!!!
Groeten aan tante Yong en jou familie

Groetjes van  papi,  Poo Han, Sioe and Tim

[Chris So]

Hello everyone,

Just to let you know my father collapsed at home on the morning of
October 31 and was taken by ambulance to Trillium Hospital. On Nov. 1,
emergency room doctors suspect that he had a stomach ulcer and he
collapsed due to low blood pressure. He lost more blood over time then
he could produce. He was scoped later that day. By night time he needed
emergency surgery as the ulcer had burst. On Nov 2 he was put in to ICU
after a successful surgical procedure to close the ulcer. Today, the
staff at the hospital was very pleased with his progress considering his
age and underlying health issues and he is now resting in the post
surgical ward.

Will let you know if there are further milestones.

Warm regards,

Chris

[anggraeni sudarma]

Hello Kie Han, 

Thanks for your mail about the progressing of your father's health.
Yesterday  I spoke with your mother
Hope all the best for your father and your mother as well your fam too

Love from  papi Tiang Gwan,  Poo Han, Sioe and Tim

[Chris So]

Hello,

This morning I received a call from the hospital asking me to come as soon as possible. Despite the promising out look yesterday, he started to bleed profusely this morning and vomiting blood, which is violent for someone who just had stomach surgery. This resulted in cardiac arrest. The emergency room surgeon told me they spent 20-30 minutes getting a beat back. He received 6 units of blood which the nurse told me s a lot. He had 2 on Monday. This afternoon the doctors plugged the veins to stem the bleeding. He is back in ICU.

He's on a ventilator. The next 24 hours will be pivotal. The recovery road has now become nuch steeper.

Thanks for your support, thoughts, prayers and well wishes. Pic attached.

Chris

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[anggraeni sudarma]

Hi Kie Han, 
We hope  all the best  for your father's condition and pray to God that He will do the best for him

Groeten aan your mum

Love from all of us

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[Chris So]

Hello,

This morning staff at the hospital are lowering the amount of ventilation dad is getting. He has tolerated being able to breathe on his own for a portion of his requirements, which is encouraging. They have put ice on him to lower the body temperature to 33-36° C to minimize the metabolism. They are managing his pain based on the blood pressure. A priest has anointed him for the blessing of the sick. He is still sedated.

Chris

[Budiono Halim]

Hello Kie Han,

        How are you? We pray to God that He will give miracles to your father, and do hope that he will get well soon. May your father, mother and your family always be blessed by God's graces and may all of you always be filled with His love. We will submit a Mass Intention for Oom Poo Giap's health recovery in a daily Mass on Monday evening at St. Antonius Church, Kotabaru, Jogja. A few months ago we also submitted twice Mass intention for him at the same Church.

Best Wishes,

Mama Ging (still in Jakarta), King Loen and Yennie

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[Chris So]

Hello Tante Ging, King Loen & Yennie and everyone else,  thanks so much for the wishes and prayers. I will pass on the messages to mom.

Chris

[anggraeni sudarma]

Hello Kie Han,

How is oom Poo Giap's health ?? Better than yesterday ?
Hope the best for him.
Already out from the ICU ??

Love from papi Tiang Gwan, Poo Han, Sioe and Tim

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[Chris So]

Hello Sioe,

No, no news today. Doctors are bringing down sedation to try and wake him up.

Chris

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Chris So Digital Video, Photo, and Multimedia Specialist 647-899-5107

[Budiono Halim]

Hello Kie Han,

        How about Oom Poo Giap's health progress? We hope that there is a good progress, Oom Poo Giap can breathe independently soon, without ventilator.

        The Mass intention for Oom Poo Giap (Bapak Andrew So)'s health recovery was already annoiunced and prayed by the Priest in the Mass this Monday evening at 5.30 p.m. (St. Antonius Church, Kotabaru). Our prayers for Oom Poo Giap & Fam. GBU.-All.

Best Wishes,

Mama Ging, King Loen & Yennie

[anggraeni sudarma]

Hello Kie Han,
It's good that mum has mob phone and wa,  so we can easily communicate with her.
All the best for your dad

Sioe

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Chris So Digital Video, Photo, and Multimedia Specialist 647-899-5107

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[anggraeni sudarma]

I put mum's phone number in the Oei group

On Nov 8, 2016 12:53 AM, "Chris So" <thepa...@gmail.com> wrote:

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Chris So Digital Video, Photo, and Multimedia Specialist 647-899-5107

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