Post by dixiedancer on Nov 5, 2007 1:01:21 GMT -5
But once again I would appreciate your prayers for another dear friend. I recieved a message from her last night with this sad story and fervent request:
On Thursday morning Bill suffered a mild heart attack and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. It appeared that because he had his defibrulator changed on Tuesday and had been off his coumadin for 5 days until resuming it Tuesday night, his blood had not had time to be thinned as was necessary for his heart condition. Thursday afternoon in the ER they started him on intraveneous heparin and began to aggressively get his blood thinned. Because of some slurring of speech, they did a CAT scan - but everything appeared normal. His vitals were coming back into a more acceptable range but they wanted him to spend at least one night in the hospital so they could keep him monitored. So off to the ICU he went. Tami (my daughter) and I tucked him in and told him his job was to rest! And then we headed for home to make phone calls to family and friends. At approximately 9pm, just as I was getting ready to, Bill called me from the hospital to tell me goodnight. We chatted and just spent the minutes assuring each other that everything would be alright and how much we loved each other. His only concern was that his cheek was a little numb - but he promised me that he would tell his nurse immediately. We then said goodbye. Approximately one hour later I got a frantic call from the hospital telling me to come immediately as Bill was in total arrest (cardio and pulmonary). Tami and I made the frantic rush to the hospital and found the love of my life on life support! It was obvious that the nurses were as upset as we were. They had given him his night meds and he had kidded with them to not bother him as he was tired! At approx. 10pm his new defibrulator shocked his heart and began to pace it. The staff got the alert on his monitor and ran to find him not breathing. The intabated him as fast as they could. However, no one was sure just how long he had not been breathing. Almost immediately he began having violent and continuous seizures - this being a sign of brain damage. The drs decided to heavily sedate him and give him mega doses of dilantin to stop the seizures. Over the last 24 hrs the seizures have subsided almost completely. The drs decided to aggressively treat each sympton and give his body 72 hrs to show signs of improvement. And then they would reassess his condition on Monday. The internist, cardiologist, and pulmonologist have told me that it doesn't look good - but they wanted to give him time. They are also hoping that with a little more time and tests they will be able to determine what happened. At this point, they believe that after he and I talked, but before 10pm, he had a major stroke - stopping his heart and breathing. We will all meet with the drs on Monday to review the tests and decide our course of action. Bill's children, Terrie, Billie and Chris are here with Tami and me. We are just supporting and loving each other - while we spend anxious hours hoping for a miracle. And we will all be there at the Monday meeting - and we will make whatever decision needs to be made - together. We have each one known that we would not have him forever - but as is the case, we didn't think it would be so soon. We are praying for a miracle - but understand that it might not come. Our hearts are breaking - but we're here, supporting eachother.
So - please keep each one of us in your prayers.[/b][/color]
On Thursday morning Bill suffered a mild heart attack and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. It appeared that because he had his defibrulator changed on Tuesday and had been off his coumadin for 5 days until resuming it Tuesday night, his blood had not had time to be thinned as was necessary for his heart condition. Thursday afternoon in the ER they started him on intraveneous heparin and began to aggressively get his blood thinned. Because of some slurring of speech, they did a CAT scan - but everything appeared normal. His vitals were coming back into a more acceptable range but they wanted him to spend at least one night in the hospital so they could keep him monitored. So off to the ICU he went. Tami (my daughter) and I tucked him in and told him his job was to rest! And then we headed for home to make phone calls to family and friends. At approximately 9pm, just as I was getting ready to, Bill called me from the hospital to tell me goodnight. We chatted and just spent the minutes assuring each other that everything would be alright and how much we loved each other. His only concern was that his cheek was a little numb - but he promised me that he would tell his nurse immediately. We then said goodbye. Approximately one hour later I got a frantic call from the hospital telling me to come immediately as Bill was in total arrest (cardio and pulmonary). Tami and I made the frantic rush to the hospital and found the love of my life on life support! It was obvious that the nurses were as upset as we were. They had given him his night meds and he had kidded with them to not bother him as he was tired! At approx. 10pm his new defibrulator shocked his heart and began to pace it. The staff got the alert on his monitor and ran to find him not breathing. The intabated him as fast as they could. However, no one was sure just how long he had not been breathing. Almost immediately he began having violent and continuous seizures - this being a sign of brain damage. The drs decided to heavily sedate him and give him mega doses of dilantin to stop the seizures. Over the last 24 hrs the seizures have subsided almost completely. The drs decided to aggressively treat each sympton and give his body 72 hrs to show signs of improvement. And then they would reassess his condition on Monday. The internist, cardiologist, and pulmonologist have told me that it doesn't look good - but they wanted to give him time. They are also hoping that with a little more time and tests they will be able to determine what happened. At this point, they believe that after he and I talked, but before 10pm, he had a major stroke - stopping his heart and breathing. We will all meet with the drs on Monday to review the tests and decide our course of action. Bill's children, Terrie, Billie and Chris are here with Tami and me. We are just supporting and loving each other - while we spend anxious hours hoping for a miracle. And we will all be there at the Monday meeting - and we will make whatever decision needs to be made - together. We have each one known that we would not have him forever - but as is the case, we didn't think it would be so soon. We are praying for a miracle - but understand that it might not come. Our hearts are breaking - but we're here, supporting eachother.
So - please keep each one of us in your prayers.[/b][/color]
