Dennis’s Story

Site created on February 27, 2023

Welcome to our CaringBridge site for my dad, Dennis Reinhardt. He has struggled with numerous health issues that have been progressively getting worse. For the most part, everything has been managed until this last month.
He was admitted to the hospital at the end of January for cellulitis in his right leg and spent about two weeks in the hospital and one more week in rehab. He was home for about another week and started having more issues with bloating, nausea, abdominal pain and other gastric problems. We ended up taking him back to the hospital where he has been since February 17.
He was starting to feel better with treatment but around the next Tuesday/Wednesday, his breathing got worse and he was on bi-pap continuously for the next three days because his oxygen level would drop significantly. And, his blood count was dropping and his heart function dropped, and had fluid in his chest.
They started him on diuretics to expel the extra fluid so they could try to do an endoscopy to see if he was bleeding somewhere internally. Because of his difficulty breathing, they weren't able to proceed.
We made the decision on Saturday to let them give him blood and then intubate him so they could complete the endoscopy to see if he had an active bleed.
Thankfully, he did not have any indication that he had an ulcer or an active bleed in his upper GI.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Vicky Reinhardt

On Friday, the 17th, we hit the one month mark of Dad being in the hospital. It has been a slow process of recovery with not much change. He has had some days with setbacks. He is still struggling with breathing/oxygen issues and is on the bi-pap machine most of the day. He does have some good days when he can wear just a nasal mask and we can communicate with him better. Keep your prayers coming! And, again, thank you for all your support. 
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