Dominic Antinozzi

Early Saturday morning on 12/15, Dominic experienced severe abdominal pain and was admitted to Cambridge Hospital. He was quickly diagnosed with pancreatitis and they began treatment. His condition deteriorated throughout the weekend and on Monday morning he was airlifted to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. By this time, Dominic was growing sicker by the minute. There, we learned there are three kinds of pancreatitis and Dominic had the worst kind, which can be life-threatening. 


His doctors were very open about his treatment plan and even discussed worst case scenario treatment options. By 4:30 yesterday afternoon, we had exhausted those options. The doctors then told me that Dominic was the sickest patient in the hospital. Despite being on a ventilator, and in an induced coma, Dominic's heart was racing a mile a minute. His doctor's told us that something had to give. His heart was running a race and sprinting full out, but the finish line was nowhere in sight.


Around 9:00 Monday night, the doctor in charge told me that it was highly unlikely Dominic would make it through the night. He had gone septic, was running a high fever and his heart was running out of steam. He asked me to prepare myself and to call our family and friends. Those were hard calls to make. A Chaplain was called in and we prayed over Dominic. I couldn't believe what was happening, almost 6 months to the day since his sister, Gina, had left us. As unfair as it seemed, I hung onto my faith and did my best to remain positive. 


There was one last drug they wanted to try. The problem was it that it normally raises the heart rate, so they were loathe to try it. With absolutely nothing to lose, they got another IV going. I won't say it happened immediately, but Dominic slowly began to stabilize. His heart rate and blood pressure were steadily dropping and his temperature was returning to normal. And while he is a long way from being out of the woods, he has amazed his doctors and nurses. At the time of this writing, Dominic is still fighting and his doctors are cautiously optimistic about his chances to make a full recovery. If everything goes according to plan, we can expect him to be out of the ICU in a few weeks and out of the hospital sometime later in February. Thanks for dropping by and I hope you'll leave him a note. Thank you.