On Monday 11/9/20, Phil was admitted to the hospital in Sioux Falls to ICU. He was having trouble swallowing & oxygen levels were low. His epiglottis wasn't working properly so food/debris was getting into his lungs.
These are some of the health issues he has been dealing with since November 9th:
- bad pneumonia - small/slight heart attack (from pneumonia putting pressure on his chest) - aspiration (breathing foreign objects into the airways)
In 2013, they found a spot of cancer on his voice box. He had radiation done at that time. Then in 2014, they removed the cancer & reconstructed his vocal cords. Since that was successful, he didn't need a trach like most patients normally would need. We were informed this week that the radiation treatments did a lot of damage on his whole throat area. He has a build up of scar tissue, where they did that surgery in 2014, which is causing the opening to his windpipe to be very small.
Please keep praying for him!
God is our refuge & our strength, and ever-present help in trouble [Psalms 46:1]
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