RICHARD KOEHN RICHARD W KOEHN

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Richard had been having some problems for approximately a month.  He felt very tired and weak and out of breath. He also coughed a lot especially when he would lie down. On Thursday March 9 Richard, Miguel and I went to mow and clean up a customers yard. He wasn't feeling well at all but it was the last cleanup job for this spring. The next morning when Richard got up I knew we would have to do something about his health. I called Lynette and asked her what we should do. We both decided to go to urgent care in Moss Bluff and see what they would tell us. So that is what we did. We got to urgent care and they took us back to a room right away. The nurse was concerned and urged us to go to ER at St. Patricks hospital in Lake Charles. She called ahead and they were waiting on us so we got to a room and nurses and drs went to work on him right away. His oxygen was in the lower 70's. They were very concerned. They did xrays and found fluid around his lungs so they started lasiks right away. The ER dr. said he just needed a tune up. We soon found out he needed more than a tune up.

 After a day or two on lasiks the fluid was off and his oxygen level was still low and was using a bipap. Anytime it was taken off it dropped. As you can imagine he was a very miserable man.  Seeing that his oxygen levels weren't helped a lot by taking the fluid off they consulted a lung dr. He came in @ 4 o'clock pm. Lynette was here alone at the time with Richard.  The lung dr. painted quite a dark picture almost suggesting there was not much hope of recovery. However he came to conclusions before he ordered any tests. The CT scan showed he had a lot of spots on his lungs. They decided to start him on a large dose of steroids. Thankfully he's responded well to the steroids. They have an antibiotic treatment going too. Tuesday, March 14 he was able to stay off the bipap all afternoon. They had him on an oxygen mask. For night they put him back on the bipap and have continued as of yet. They say the bipap helps heal the lungs.  His appetite has been very poor.  Also he has been nauseated. Slowly he is improving. We are trying to push food down. He can't take any hard dry foods as his mouth is so dry and he is starting to get sores in his mouth. They gave him a mouthwash that helps numb his mouth so he can eat better. We want to thank you all for the prayers and those that came to visit us.