Johnny’s Journal

Dad’s doing fine today. He had a pretty good weekend, though he did have a period of anxiety yesterday evening. Dad took a dose of Lorazepam, and that helped greatly.

He and Mom have had some welcome company today. John Johnson came and visited with Dad while Johnny Kirk helped Mom take honeycomb off her beehives. What a help! Also, the crew that’s been cleaning up tornado debris in their area came back today and cleared a huge pile of debris that Mom and I (mostly Mom) had collected over the past couple of weeks. Mom joked that she can’t get a decent “burn pile” built if they keep doing that!

Dad’s appointment with Dr. C. Jason Cherry, his new cardiologist, is scheduled for Friday, June 27th. We’re praying that Dr. Cherry will be able to find what caused the seizures in the first place, and will be able to treat it effectively.

Dr. Diffee called this afternoon with the results of Dad’s nuclear stress test. Apparently, they weren’t clear enough for the cardiologist, Dr. Cherry, to make a definite diagnosis, so Dr. Diffee is going to make an appointment for Dad with Dr. Cherry to do another evaluation. Hopefully, they’ll get to the bottom of it soon.

Dad’s felt good today, and his spirits have much improved now that the siezures have apparently ceased. As always, though, please keep him in your prayers.

Mom and Dad went out today on errands. Mom went to the Eye Clinic to get her new glasses fixed (they made them bifocals by mistake, which she can’t use), and Dad sat in the truck while she went in for that. Then they went to Kroger for some essential groceries, and Dad pushed the cart around the store. Mom said he did fine, and Dad says that he wasn’t even tired out by the experience.

Dad’s gone four days now without a seizure. Now that his Dilantin level is up where it should be, we’re hoping and praying that he may never have another, and just keeps getting stronger and healthier.

Dad feels even better today than he did yesterday! He’s even planning to go with Mom to the grocery store today.

Also, Dr. Misulis‘ office called with the results of his Monday blood test; his Dilantin level is up to 13! They were trying to get it up between 10 and 20, so 13 is a great number.

Dad’s recovery just keeps on going. Thanks for all your prayers, everyone!

Dad had a good day today. This is the third day without a seizure, and that’s the longest he has gone without one since June 5th. We are so grateful that he is doing so well. Please remember him in your prayers!

Dad said this morning that he’s feeling “a hundred percent better” than he did yesterday. He sounds a lot better, too. He got a good night’s sleep and that helped him a lot. He says he has a little dizziness today, but nothing like yesterday, and only when he’s getting up from lying down. Mom’s still tired from yesterday, but she’s very much relieved that Dad’s doing so well. Dad asked me to thank everyone for their continuing prayers.

Dad’s gone to bed early tonight, quite tired from the tests today. Part of the stress test involved injecting a radioactive dye along with a drug that significantly increased his heart rate, and that wore him out.

Before he went to sleep, I got to talk to him for a few minutes and he said he felt much better than he did earlier today. (Somebody’s praying out there, aren’t you? Come on, admit it!) He thinks he’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight, and hopes to feel even better tomorrow. Me too.

Please keep him in your prayers, folks!

I just talked to Dad for a couple of minutes and asked how he was feeling, and he sighed and said, “Lousy, Tony.” He went to bed last night feeling the unease that he associates with the onset of a seizure and woke up with it this morning, and has apparently had it to some degree ever since. He hopes that Dr. Diffee or Dr. Misulis will be able to isolate the cause and get him back to feeling reasonably good, but feeling this way has been very discouraging for him.

On the positive side, he still has not had even a mild seizure since Saturday morning—he only feels that he might at any time. Please keep him in your prayers.

Dad went in for his nuclear stress test today. He said it involved an isotope injection in his hand and three CT scans over the course of four hours, along with some other tests. Not much exersion was required, but apparently they get a lot of info by watching the radioactive markers course through his circulatory system. No results yet, of course, but I’ll post that here when it comes in.

Also, Dad’s gone two days now without even a mild seizure. He felt some unease, as if one might be imminent, last night and this morning, but nothing ever happened. We were all grateful for that.

Please pray with us that Dad’s test results are clear and good, and that he continues his remarkable recovery.

Dad had a good day today. We both were a bit restless in the middle of the night and watched a little television together, and he said then that he felt better than he had all day Saturday. This morning he said the same thing, and it seemed to carry through all day. Mom and Christie went to church together while I stayed with Dad, and he seemed fine all morning and afternoon.

As of when Christie and I got back to Nashville tonight, Dad hadn’t had even a mild seizure, nor had he felt as if one were coming on. It does give us reason to hope that the worst is over. Thanks so much for your continuing prayers, folks; the answers are coming.