Mike Fedders Mike Fedders

Welcome to Mike's site.  It is hard to know where to start with Mike's story so I will just pick a spot.  Earlier this summer, Mom and Dad decided they wanted to take a trip in their pick-up camper.  Since they had recently remodeled their kitchen, they had extra flooring left so Dad decided that he would like to update the flooring in the camper as well.  so, down on his knees he went and proceeded to lay the new floor.  After the task was done, his knee became swollen and hot.  They went on their 2 week trip and his knee bothered him the whole time.  

When they got back, they started doctoring.  they tried several routes (ice, elevation, antibiotics) and finally on September 27 they did surgery on the knee to remove any infection that they could find.  Well...they didn't really find any infection, so the doctor removed some woody tissue and closed him back up.  He continued to struggle with pain and heat to that knee.  It just never seemed to get any better.  His other leg had pain as well.  The next diagnosis was arthritis.  Still no relief from pain.  On October 8th, we took Dad to the emergency room because he was so cold, shaking uncontrollably and he couldn't walk.  They diagnosed him with a UTI/bladder infection and sent him home with antibiotics.  He continued to feel pain in both his legs and just didn't feel good.

On Friday, October 13, they received a call from the hospital that they needed to come in for infusions because they found an infection that can only be treated with infusions.  So...off to the hospital they went and they put in a picc line and started transfusions.  Sunday, October 15th, Mom ended up taking Dad to the hospital at midnight because it hurt in his chest where the picc line was.  He was running a fever and they didn't know where the infection was so they sent him home with more antibiotics. On Monday morning, Mom called the clinic back and insisted that something more needed to be done.  They called her back and told them to come in.  They admitted him into the hospital and started to monitor him.

They brought him his supper around 5 and he ate all of it.  After eating, he indicated that he might have to throw up.  Dianne brought him a trashcan and set it on the floor next to him and he instantly slumped over and started falling out of the chair.  Mom and Dianne immediately summoned help and they did CPR on him for 30 minutes.  We are truly humbled by the dedication of all of the nurses and physicians at the hospital and they never gave up.  They finally got a pulse back and he then took a breathe.  They ventilated him and airlifted to the Sanford hospital in Sioux Falls.