Birthday Tubes

Dad got his very own feeding tube for his 92nd birthday. Actually, he got three tubes. One tube is for medications, another is for the 'food', and the third is for suctioning out things that are in the stomach and not being passed through. The surgery which was allegedly to last only about ten minutes, lasted almost an hour and a half. For several days prior to the procedure, I asked the nurses if they needed me to sign any forms giving my permission for them to do the procedure. They said, no, Dad had signed the form himself. I brought in the Power of Attorney form I had. They made a copy. I was taking care of the baby on the day they were to put in the tubes. They called. Before they could begin, they needed my verbal okay. They had two staff members speak to me to validate my consent. The surgeon called immediately after. He said that when they had gone in they discovered Dad's stomach was full of food. Despite fasting for over 15 hours, the stomach had not digested the prior day's meals. What did that mean? It meant we had another, new problem. There's a name for it; I forgot what it is. Generally it means that the peristalsis isn't working as it should and, of course, there is a medication they will be giving him. There's only one side effect: confusion. Personally, I think there is enough confusion in the 92-year-old territory anyway. Do we really need a medication that promotes it even further? Will Dad's confusion now move ahead at warp speed?