Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
17 days ago Jim woke up at 4:00 AM because he was having difficulty breathing. He went to the ER at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was admitted due to his breathing issues. On Wednesday, May 5th, he was transferred into the ICU. Later that evening he was sedated, medically paralyzed , and put on a ventilator. He has been in the ICU and on a ventilator ever since. He had a lung biopsy on May 11th to find out what was going on. The biopsy showed that he has Acute Interstitial Pneumonia and is bleeding from his lungs. This was caused by an unknown inhalant. The doctor said that this is a fluke and not many people get this. He also said we will never know what caused it. He has been on many antibiotics and steroids. He is on a feeding tube and has lost a lot of weight. On May 18th he had a temporary tracheotomy performed. He is unable to talk but is beginning to wake up. He is very confused and uncomfortable. He is beginning to follow commands like squeeze my hand or nod yes or no. Today he has developed an infection in his trach and is on more antibiotics. His hemoglobin keeps dropping so he is getting a blood transfusion today.
The good news is that he is better than he was two weeks ago. He has a long road to recovery. He will be in the ICU another week or more. Then he will go to a step down unit called Select. He can't go into a regular hospital room because his needs are too high. He will be there for 20 to 60 days depending on how well he responds. Then he should be able to return home to finish recuperating. The doctor said he hopes that he will be mostly recovered by September.
I will try to post updates daily on this site. Jim would love prayers and words of encouragement.
