Derek Vogel Love for Derek

Kelly took Derek to the ER at Renown on the morning of November 5, 2019.  He was experiencing severe chest pain.  The doctors determined he was experiencing an aortic dissection and needed emergency open heart surgery to repair the dissecting aorta.  The surgery took about 7 hours. He came out of surgery well and the doctor was satisfied with how surgery went.  He was put into an induced coma and remained unconscious for 5 days. After he regained consciousness, he struggled with maintaining his oxygen levels and was suffering from a condition known as ICU psychosis.  It made him very restless and difficult for him to sleep.  He was aware of everyone around him, and knew he was in the hospital, but his words were limited.  After week one at the hospital, he became suddenly conversant, was able to stand up and walk a bit, and around Thursday of the second week, they thought they might let him go home.   Unfortunately, that Friday, November 15th, he became dizzy and fell, and then had difficulty even opening his eyes for the next few days.   They decided to drain the fluid from his heart to see if it would help him maintain his blood pressure better, and that seemed to work.   He was finally able to go home on Friday, November 22, 2019.  He is so happy to be home, but still has a long road of recovery in front of him.   He is very weak tires easily and needs lots of support at home.