Ron Wicht

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
I think this all started the weekend of August 17th....the girls and I headed up north to spend the weekend with Nama and Papa...we went to the pig races in Leader, MN, had a great time with Uncle Ed, Aunt Kristi, Nate, Uncle Roman and Aunt Karen.....the next day we went to Bart Harbor....a part of land that meets up between mom and dad's land and Ed and Kristi's....we tubed, drank beer and cooked on an open flame.....it was a great time....the week went on.....only to find out Papa wasn't feeling so great. Mom and Dad ended up in the ER on August 25th...only to be sent home.  Then a fever began, dad continued to feel poorly with agitation, no appetite, limited sleep and neck pain. Back to the ER in Staples, eventually admitted. Multiple blood tests were taken as well as a lumbar puncture was done but nothing came back to tell us what was going on. Unsure of what they were dealing with, it was advised they be transferred to St. Cloud Hospital on August 27....From there, an ID specialist, neurologist and Hospitalist saw him, again they did several blood tests and another lumbar puncture. Finally, one of the cultures came back with a diagnosis. Dad has West Nile Virus with Encephalitis from a mosquito bite....... Dad has been in the ICU since August 29th.....This is extremely rare to have the effects my dad has.....I think it is bad luck....but really...hasn't he had enough already??
From what we hear, this is a slow recovery....Dad has had several IV's, been intubated, then extubated then intubated and extubated again, only to be intubated again so is still on the vent. So many medications needed to control his BP, keep him sedated, he has a NG tube for nutrition, so many ups and downs in the last 2 weeks......I want to use this website as a way to communicate to everyone. We need all the support, love and prayers to get our Papa/Ron/Dad back........