Sullie
Footballguy
It's getting to be flu season and I wanted to pass along this super long story about my brother. You always think this kind of thing is going to happen to someone else. I always suspect, when you hear these stories that there is more to it, an underlying health issue, something else going on, some other REAL reason this happened, probably a smoker, probably a drug user, probably had asthma, probably had a condition of some sort or another but I can assure you NONE of that is the case here. I am very close to my brother, we're best of friends, we get together during football season and watch the Buckeyes together, him, myself and my son and I know my brother very well.
My brother is 53 years old and has always been very healthy, perhaps a bit overweight now with age and out of shape but he's always been a non-smoker, hard worker, he was in the Air Force, then he got his BS in EE while in the Army Reserves and then he became a systems administrator 25+ years ago. After many, many conversations, I followed in his footsteps, transitioning from a programmer to systems administrator 20+ years ago, yet another thing we've bonded on, having the same occupation. Anyway, my brother got the flu at the end of December, fought it off, it seemed to go away but then it came back around the end of January. He is the LAST person to EVER go to the hospital but, struggling to breath after a weekend of neither eating nor sleeping he called an Uber (because he figured it would get him to the hospital quicker than an ambulance) he admitted himself to a local hospital emergency room. Within a few minutes he collapsed as his respiratory system shut down. At that time, Dave was put into a medically induced coma and put on a ventilator on Tuesday January 29th. Dave is single so the hospital called me at work. I immediately went to the hospital, the news was very grim, he was given about a 50% chance of survival depending on the next 24 hours.
I called our mom, our sisters, etc. they came from all over the country. I called my priest for last rites. The ER physician actually talked to my brother and was very taken back by everything that happened. One question he asked me "do you know his medical history?" I said yes "he's not on any sort of medication, he's never even broken a bone, he's never spent a night in a hospital, and I don't think he even has a family doctor, he gets routine insurance checks (blood pressure screenings, blood tests, etc.) to get a rebate for his insurance at work but that's pretty much it." He's always joked with me about it is why I know. Anyway, at that time the doctor was very reassuring and said "he's fairly young, he's a non-smoker, I want to see how he does overnight but if he progresses like I think he will, I think he will pull out of this." He added "Now, bear in mind, I always have to plan for the worst, just in case he takes a turn, so I have been talking to another physician at IU-Methodist so if he does not improve, I will send Dave there, it's a level 1 trauma center downtown (Indianapolis) and they would put Dave on an ECMO (an additional form of life support machine) and they would take over treatment but I really don't think all that will be necessary." (The ECMO device takes your blood from your body, oxygenates it and re-introduces it back into your body.)
My wife joined me in the waiting room until about midnight, she left to be with our son. My oldest sister got into Indy around 2 AM and she spent that night at the hospital in a waiting room, with me. Our priest showed up that night around 7:30 or 8:00 to give Dave last rites because, well, when you see someone on a ventilator, no matter what anyone says, it's not very reassuring. The next day my wife dropped my son off at school and joined me in the waiting room with my oldest sister. The doctor came in and he looked like he was just punched in the gut, he was as white as a ghost, I immediately knew something was wrong.
The ER doctor said "I've been monitoring Dave all night, we have him on 100% oxygen in addition to being on a ventilator. Your brother's 02 saturation level is hovering around 81% - 83% and dropping from 90% earlier, if it drops below 80% for a length of time his organs will begin to shut down, his heart, his kidneys, etc. and he will pass away if we don't move on this immediately." He went on, "I need approval to move him to IU-Methodist downtown, they have an ECMO there, it could save his life." I said "let's go!"
Dave was transported downtown to IU-Methodist, this is Wednesday (1/30) and when we finally got to see him, he was still in a medically induced coma, ventilator but now on ECMO, he had ARDS, sepsis, influenza and pneumonia. He had at least 22 IV's (they had two IV stands, three levels with 5-6 IV bags per level) feeding tube, and at least 15 different monitors running, etc. but Dave was making progress there. My other sister joined us in the hospital, it seemed like it was touch and go but by the end of the week, Sunday (2/3) Dave was actually out of the coma, sitting up in bed, watching the super bowl, he was awake, talking, laughing and we thought "wow, that was so quick, this is awesome!" My sister's went home, my Mom stayed around, I went back to work on Monday (2/4) and our Mom was planning to go back home to Oklahoma, she's 83.
Monday afternoon we got bad news again, his O2 saturation levels suddenly and unexpectedly dropped, Dave would have to be induced again (put into a medically induced coma) and back on the ventilator, I left work and stayed in the hospital that week. That week was rough! We were told Dave's heart fell to pumping at 40%, his kidneys started to fail, he was put on dialysis on Wednesday (2/6). We were told there was not much they could do except wait and pray. His organs began to shut down that day and, again, I called my priest for last rites again and I started praying the rosary in the chapel. I prayed at that chapel every single day because it gave me some level of comfort and there wasn't much else I could do really and to be quite frank, it's a very hopeless feeling, watching someone you love slip away and not being able to help. Everyone was always wonderfully kind and nice but I always felt like I was in the way so I always did my best to be respectful of everyone's space there.
I kept praying for a solution, hope, anything positive really. The next day, we got some good news, Dave's kidney's kicked in and he was taken off dialysis. This was huge because that meant his organs were no longer shutting down. I believe about 7-10 days later his heart was finally pumping back to 100% once again. We went through this constant cycle of one day good news, some progress, the next not good news (not bad news, just no progress) but he kept fighting to recover. Finally, by the end of February /beginning of March Dave was taken completely off the ECMO after 5 weeks I believe it was. Dave was still on a ventilator, trachea, several IV's but about a week or so after that he was moved from the ICU to the 4th floor of the hospital, then to the 6th floor and then he was taken off ventilator but he had a trachea and oxygen with feeding tube removed, IV's removed but the slow recovery process would then begin.
Dave left the hospital and went to a long term care facility for a couple of weeks, his trachea was removed there. From there Dave went to a nursing home about a mile or two from my home, we visited Dave every day and took him home for meals and 4 hours of "FREE" time. Dave had slowly progressed, he eventually got off oxygen, he started walking and doing physical therapy, this had gone on for 3-4 weeks now and finally Dave got to go home the Saturday before Easter where he would continue to recover. He immediately started to work from home for the next two weeks and after that he went back to work full time.
I want to leave this message with something I was immediately struck with at IU-Methodist hospital in downtown Indianapolis. The hospital, downtown, is huge and has several floors to it. That entire building and ALL those people are dedicated to saving lives. Hundreds of good people there. We have several hospitals, nursing homes, treatment centers all across the city, state, country and world with people that are dedicated to saving people's lives. There is so much GOOD in the world going on that it gets overlooked. We always hear the negative news, the bad things that happen, the bad things people are doing but so, so many people's lives are dedicated to helping others, it was a really enlightening experience for me. Even though my Mom and two of my three sisters are nurses, still, it never really hit me because that was Mom doing her job or my sister's doing their jobs, it was never really presented to me as "well, I saved some guy's life today at work. . ." they never, ever talked about that when I was growing up, they're all very selfless people actually. I did hear a lot of funny stories though growing up.
Sorry for the long message, I did my best to condense several months worth of events into a single posting, some of this was from memory, texts and e-mails to friends and family. Anyway, one question that came up, time and time again with respect to my brother. From the very first ER doctor, to each and every single person that worked on my brother "Did he get a flu shot?" And, last year, the answer was no. I was told several times that this "probably" would not have happened had he gotten a flu shot. Sometimes, I was told it may have occurred anyway but 90% of the healthcare workers were pretty emphatic about getting a flu shot. Here is a link from the CDC's website. I looked over that list and the ONLY thing on that list that applies to my brother is that he was over 50 (53 now but 52 at the time) and that's it. So I would suggest, if you're on the fence, any of those things from the CDC's site apply to you, please read this as a cautionary tale and regardless, I would suggest getting a flu shot.
My brother is 53 years old and has always been very healthy, perhaps a bit overweight now with age and out of shape but he's always been a non-smoker, hard worker, he was in the Air Force, then he got his BS in EE while in the Army Reserves and then he became a systems administrator 25+ years ago. After many, many conversations, I followed in his footsteps, transitioning from a programmer to systems administrator 20+ years ago, yet another thing we've bonded on, having the same occupation. Anyway, my brother got the flu at the end of December, fought it off, it seemed to go away but then it came back around the end of January. He is the LAST person to EVER go to the hospital but, struggling to breath after a weekend of neither eating nor sleeping he called an Uber (because he figured it would get him to the hospital quicker than an ambulance) he admitted himself to a local hospital emergency room. Within a few minutes he collapsed as his respiratory system shut down. At that time, Dave was put into a medically induced coma and put on a ventilator on Tuesday January 29th. Dave is single so the hospital called me at work. I immediately went to the hospital, the news was very grim, he was given about a 50% chance of survival depending on the next 24 hours.
I called our mom, our sisters, etc. they came from all over the country. I called my priest for last rites. The ER physician actually talked to my brother and was very taken back by everything that happened. One question he asked me "do you know his medical history?" I said yes "he's not on any sort of medication, he's never even broken a bone, he's never spent a night in a hospital, and I don't think he even has a family doctor, he gets routine insurance checks (blood pressure screenings, blood tests, etc.) to get a rebate for his insurance at work but that's pretty much it." He's always joked with me about it is why I know. Anyway, at that time the doctor was very reassuring and said "he's fairly young, he's a non-smoker, I want to see how he does overnight but if he progresses like I think he will, I think he will pull out of this." He added "Now, bear in mind, I always have to plan for the worst, just in case he takes a turn, so I have been talking to another physician at IU-Methodist so if he does not improve, I will send Dave there, it's a level 1 trauma center downtown (Indianapolis) and they would put Dave on an ECMO (an additional form of life support machine) and they would take over treatment but I really don't think all that will be necessary." (The ECMO device takes your blood from your body, oxygenates it and re-introduces it back into your body.)
My wife joined me in the waiting room until about midnight, she left to be with our son. My oldest sister got into Indy around 2 AM and she spent that night at the hospital in a waiting room, with me. Our priest showed up that night around 7:30 or 8:00 to give Dave last rites because, well, when you see someone on a ventilator, no matter what anyone says, it's not very reassuring. The next day my wife dropped my son off at school and joined me in the waiting room with my oldest sister. The doctor came in and he looked like he was just punched in the gut, he was as white as a ghost, I immediately knew something was wrong.
The ER doctor said "I've been monitoring Dave all night, we have him on 100% oxygen in addition to being on a ventilator. Your brother's 02 saturation level is hovering around 81% - 83% and dropping from 90% earlier, if it drops below 80% for a length of time his organs will begin to shut down, his heart, his kidneys, etc. and he will pass away if we don't move on this immediately." He went on, "I need approval to move him to IU-Methodist downtown, they have an ECMO there, it could save his life." I said "let's go!"
Dave was transported downtown to IU-Methodist, this is Wednesday (1/30) and when we finally got to see him, he was still in a medically induced coma, ventilator but now on ECMO, he had ARDS, sepsis, influenza and pneumonia. He had at least 22 IV's (they had two IV stands, three levels with 5-6 IV bags per level) feeding tube, and at least 15 different monitors running, etc. but Dave was making progress there. My other sister joined us in the hospital, it seemed like it was touch and go but by the end of the week, Sunday (2/3) Dave was actually out of the coma, sitting up in bed, watching the super bowl, he was awake, talking, laughing and we thought "wow, that was so quick, this is awesome!" My sister's went home, my Mom stayed around, I went back to work on Monday (2/4) and our Mom was planning to go back home to Oklahoma, she's 83.
Monday afternoon we got bad news again, his O2 saturation levels suddenly and unexpectedly dropped, Dave would have to be induced again (put into a medically induced coma) and back on the ventilator, I left work and stayed in the hospital that week. That week was rough! We were told Dave's heart fell to pumping at 40%, his kidneys started to fail, he was put on dialysis on Wednesday (2/6). We were told there was not much they could do except wait and pray. His organs began to shut down that day and, again, I called my priest for last rites again and I started praying the rosary in the chapel. I prayed at that chapel every single day because it gave me some level of comfort and there wasn't much else I could do really and to be quite frank, it's a very hopeless feeling, watching someone you love slip away and not being able to help. Everyone was always wonderfully kind and nice but I always felt like I was in the way so I always did my best to be respectful of everyone's space there.
I kept praying for a solution, hope, anything positive really. The next day, we got some good news, Dave's kidney's kicked in and he was taken off dialysis. This was huge because that meant his organs were no longer shutting down. I believe about 7-10 days later his heart was finally pumping back to 100% once again. We went through this constant cycle of one day good news, some progress, the next not good news (not bad news, just no progress) but he kept fighting to recover. Finally, by the end of February /beginning of March Dave was taken completely off the ECMO after 5 weeks I believe it was. Dave was still on a ventilator, trachea, several IV's but about a week or so after that he was moved from the ICU to the 4th floor of the hospital, then to the 6th floor and then he was taken off ventilator but he had a trachea and oxygen with feeding tube removed, IV's removed but the slow recovery process would then begin.
Dave left the hospital and went to a long term care facility for a couple of weeks, his trachea was removed there. From there Dave went to a nursing home about a mile or two from my home, we visited Dave every day and took him home for meals and 4 hours of "FREE" time. Dave had slowly progressed, he eventually got off oxygen, he started walking and doing physical therapy, this had gone on for 3-4 weeks now and finally Dave got to go home the Saturday before Easter where he would continue to recover. He immediately started to work from home for the next two weeks and after that he went back to work full time.
I want to leave this message with something I was immediately struck with at IU-Methodist hospital in downtown Indianapolis. The hospital, downtown, is huge and has several floors to it. That entire building and ALL those people are dedicated to saving lives. Hundreds of good people there. We have several hospitals, nursing homes, treatment centers all across the city, state, country and world with people that are dedicated to saving people's lives. There is so much GOOD in the world going on that it gets overlooked. We always hear the negative news, the bad things that happen, the bad things people are doing but so, so many people's lives are dedicated to helping others, it was a really enlightening experience for me. Even though my Mom and two of my three sisters are nurses, still, it never really hit me because that was Mom doing her job or my sister's doing their jobs, it was never really presented to me as "well, I saved some guy's life today at work. . ." they never, ever talked about that when I was growing up, they're all very selfless people actually. I did hear a lot of funny stories though growing up.
Sorry for the long message, I did my best to condense several months worth of events into a single posting, some of this was from memory, texts and e-mails to friends and family. Anyway, one question that came up, time and time again with respect to my brother. From the very first ER doctor, to each and every single person that worked on my brother "Did he get a flu shot?" And, last year, the answer was no. I was told several times that this "probably" would not have happened had he gotten a flu shot. Sometimes, I was told it may have occurred anyway but 90% of the healthcare workers were pretty emphatic about getting a flu shot. Here is a link from the CDC's website. I looked over that list and the ONLY thing on that list that applies to my brother is that he was over 50 (53 now but 52 at the time) and that's it. So I would suggest, if you're on the fence, any of those things from the CDC's site apply to you, please read this as a cautionary tale and regardless, I would suggest getting a flu shot.
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