Skylor Weyaus Gidaagaabinesh

First post: Sep 17, 2017 Latest post: Feb 20, 2018
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. As many of you already know by reading the Mille Lacs Messenger that came out on August 30th, Skylor overdosed on August 26th due to Heroin laced with Fentanol and was left in the bathtub for several hours, without help being called. His brother Jordan stopped over after work about 1:15 am on August 27th and could hear some funny breathing. When he seen Skylor in the bathtub he knew something wasn't right. He called 911 and Tribal immediately admininistered Narcan and had to start CPR due to his heart stopping. CPR was performed for 25 min before they had him stable enuf to transport to Onamia Hospital. Once he got there toxicology labs were done to determine the overdose and they prepped him to be airlifted to St Cloud hospital. Just minutes before leaving the hospital his heart stopped again and he had to have CPR again. 


He arrived at St Cloud Hospital at 4 am and was considered critical condition. He was quickly brought n for a CT Scan and put in the ICU ans declared ro b n coma. That same morning the Dr told the family that based on the CT Scan he has severe brain damage and would likely not survive but if he does he will b severely diaabled. It was time to make some big decisions. The 1st thing that needed to be done was therapeutic hypothermia which is basically freezing the brain and rewaming it back to normal body temperature over a 48 hr period. At that point we knew we just had to wait because he couldn't wake up during that time no matter what. The other big issue at that time is his kidneys were starting to shut down due to damage to his left leg. There is a medical terminology for it and it makes complete sense but basically the potassium n that leg controls the kidney, they had to cut his leg open in 4 different areas and keep the wound open and drain it for days/weeks. They call that compartment syndrome. The procedure did what it was supposed to do and the kidney damage instantly got better and at this point in time there was no damage to any of his organs, just his brain. 


(Aug 30th) But after a repeat CT scan with the same results, that was enough for the neurosurgeon to come in and tell the whole family that the best decision we could make on Skylors behalf would be to immediately take him off life support. (Aug 31st) As a family we chose to talk it over with the Director of ICU,  who also happened to be Skylors main Dr. We were able to have that talk the following day and he highly suggested because of Skylors age and the fact that all his organs look good etc if we are not comfortable taking him off life support a happy medium to kno when not doin it too late or too soon is 10-14 days. The family agreed. Over the next couple of days he was shaking quite a bit but there was no seizure activity. The Drs thought maybe muscle spasms, but lots of family thinks withdrawals because it went away after a couple of days. And then his right side started moving but it wasn't purposeful movement, again muscle spasms/contracting. His skin was also getting very tight and swollen on the entire left side which they believe has some significant damage due to a possible fall.


Sept 2nd 1:30 pm was the 1st sign of Skylor trying to wake up. I was in his room talking to a family member when his eyes started to open about halfway. This went on for days...about 4-5 days he would open his eyes partway for very short amount of times totalling no more than an hr each day. He also yawned a few times. At this point we don't know if anything is purposeful but we have a ton of hope and prayers. Time to do some research.


Sept 5th After days of extensive research I decided I wanted to try and have my son moved to Mayo n Rochester or U of M n the cities...they both have a special test of the brain for comatosed patients called a PETscan which the family believed would help us feel more at ease n making the tough decision to take Skylor off of life support. Dr Limm was in charge of getting a transfer accepted. Mayo responded almost immediately requesting an MRI so St Cloud had it done that evening. The accepting Dr at Mayo then reviewed everything and determined that they wouldn't do anything different then what St Cloud Hospital is doing but that they should give him a little time as he is very young. U of M just flat out denied him the following day


Sept 7th the Director of ICU came n on his day off just to go over the MRI results (keep in mind he is the one who didn't give up on us). After pointing out the severity of the brain damage he told us he now believes Skylor can't even hear us. We have had several days at this point with no improvement. In fact we were also told today he has an infection and fever. This is the day we made the decision to take him off life support if no improvement by Sept 11th...i prepared the family that it would take place n the am.


Sept 7th Skylor now has slight pneumonia and is placed on 2 antibiotics. Sept 8th a small blood transfusion needed to be done. 


Sept 9th I made the announcement on Facebook so that family and friends could come and say their final goodbye. His stepdad and Grandpa did a smudge prayer in hopes for a miracle or a safe journey home. I am not very religious/spiritual and I have dug very deep to pray and believe n a higher power. Tonight I was all by myself and knew I needed a miracle...i looked up at the ceiling and I prayed to God, as I couldn't stop crying; for a miracle and if he wasn't goin to give me a miracle to give me a sign so I kno I am doin the right thing.


Sept 10 Today skylor opened his eyes all the way so i askdd him some questions and he responded on command...I asked him to shake his head No, he did! I asked him if he could hear me and he nodded Yes! I asked him for a thumbs up and he slowly put his thumb up...I told him I loved him and started crying and his eyes turned very red and he started crying (tears anyway). And the room was full of family to witness it. I don't kno what any of this means but all I know is we will not b taking him off of life support anytime soon...in fact I need prayers for continued improvement!!! This is an amazing step n the right direction but it still doesn't tell us the severity of the brain damage.



Sept 11 We start making plans moving forward and given there is only 3 places that take ventilators I again did my research and determined Bethesda in St Paul is the best place for him. We started making plans but 1st he had to have surgery to remove some infected teeth, have a trach and peg placed. 


Sept 12 Skylor had surgery today and all went well. He will b sedated tonight so we don't expect much (as we also haven't gotten much since Sunday) however the timing of that still tells me prayers were answered...just keep praying for a bigger miracle as we begin the journey to healing the brain.


Sept 15 Skylor was transferred by ambulance to Bethesda n St Paul if anyone would like to come visit him the visiting is from 8-8. 559 Capitol Blvd he is on 5 West...real easy to find. After several days again of no real purposeful movement, but yet very wide awake and looking around, right after we got to Bethesda today he reached for my hand. I am very happy about the placement and the therapies that will be working with him. Just continue to pray for our miracle. 


I will now be putting any new updates on the journal section of this page...i just created it today so felt this was the easiest way to not leave anything out. Please sign his guestbook so someday I can show him!


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