First post:
Feb 17, 2021 Latest post:
Apr 12, 2021
Welcome to our CaringBridge website for Mike Maus. A man of tremendous Faith and resolve, he is the loving husband to Jeri Lou; brother and brother-in-law to Phil, Carol, Diana, Roger, Becky, Cilla and Charlie; father to Andy and Jack, grandfather to Jake, Matthew and Jessie; uncle to Kate, Karl and Cheryl, Steve, Brian and Katie; and finally friend to countless others.
We're using this site to help keep everyone updated. Know that we, particularly Jeri Lou, Andy and Jack, greatly appreciate your prayers, support, and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting!
As many of you know, Mike started his medical journey over 7 years ago when he was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), an atypical form of Parkinson’s. Leading such an active life with Jeri, biking, hiking, and traveling the world together this was a real blow. But they embraced the diagnosis with a goal of helping others by getting involved in a clinical study of PSP at University of California, San Francisco. Over several years they made numerous trips back and forth to SF, enjoying meals together and tracking the progression of the disease.
So here we are today though, with a different twist in the journey. Last Tuesday (Feb 9th) Mike proclaimed “Ouch, that hurts!” when the physical therapist was working on his mobility. This clear, loud statement was a surprise because his speech has continued to erode recently to the point it’s been difficult to hear or understand what he’s saying. He had some pain and then lost his appetite that afternoon (if you’ve ever seen him go after a hamburger you know that was a sign) so we took him to the ER, then were transferred to St. Anthony’s the next day where they discovered a 10mm kidney stone stuck between his kidney and bladder, which caused a blockage and led to an infection. They hooked him up to several IVs for saline and to administer antibiotics, and tracked the infection rate while it declined over the next few days. However, he was very weak and totally lost his ability to speak or even respond to questions with hand squeezes. But we know he’s still fully aware by his reactions to prayers, discussion and calls so we were forced to evaluate next steps. The docs and nurses all agreed that at this stage of the PSP there is no way he will recover from the infection and regain his strength so he could eat, drink, walk or talk again.
SO, we brought Mike to hospice in Wheat Ridge yesterday, we’re at the Collier Hospice Center at Lutheran. There’s a great team here, he’s well taken care of and he's resting comfortably.
So let's lift Mike up to God in our prayers and good wishes.
