Larry Muller

    This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life and I never imagined in a million years I would have to start a caring bridge site for my dad.Our dad/husband/grandpa has been struggling the last year with his rheumatoid arthritis and a few months ago he had surgery to try and help him fix some of the pain that the arthritis was causing in his nerves/legs. After that initial surgery he had complications with a blood cot and the surgery also did not really work. So on June 24th he went back in for essentially the same surgery plus he also had two of his lower vertebrae fused together. Everything seemed to be going pretty good with his recovery but on the morning of July 5 he woke up with horrible pain in his back and legs and had a fairly high fever which was indicating he had an infection. He was taken by ambulance to Avera McKennan and it was figured that he did have an infection caused by the surgery and the wound needed to be cleaned out with another surgery. So on Thursday July 7th he was scheduled to go in and have it cleaned out. On his way to surgery his body basically "crashed" from the sepsis caused by the infection. He was admitted to the ICU before he ever got to surgery.        
     So, as of right now he has been in ICU for 3 days with the sepsis. During his "crash" his blood pressure dropped dramatically and it has caused his kidneys to shut down. I am not up to par on my nursing skills like my sister Jill, but I am told it takes days/weeks sometimes for the kidneys to come back to normal function if at all. They seem to slowly be working but not as fast as we would like, and if they don't start working soon the doctors may have to start a slow dialysis process. He also is on medication to help keep his blood pressure up. Dad is also intubated with a breathing tube to help him breathe if he needs it. He is breathing good on his own right now but with all of the sedation he is on it is better that he has help to breathe if he needs it. He is on pain meds to help take away the pain in his legs, and also on antibiotics to help fight the infection that is in his body, but he still needs the surgery to wash out the incision to completely help clear up the sepsis, because the antibiotics alone will not kill the infection. 
     So right now it is a waiting and praying game. We really need his kidneys to start working and for his body to maintain a good blood pressure without meds before he can have the surgery. He is aware of his surroundings and when people are in the room talking to him, but with his sedation he is very groggy and appears to be out of it. I am hopeful that God will get him through this. He is the most hard working, stubborn, caring person I know and we know he can get through this. Please pray for him. We love our dad/grandpa/husband.