Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated on Don Wedel's (Dad's) condition.
Dad tested positive for COVID-19 on 10/31/2020. For most of that first week, his symptoms were fairly mild - a slight cough, fevers, body aches, headaches, loss of taste and smell, etc. On Friday, 11/6/2020, he started to cough quite a bit so he visited the doctor where they indicated he had Pneumonitis (inflammation of the lungs); they prescribed him a steroid and an inhaler. By Sunday, he was having a very difficult time breathing and asked for an ambulance to be called. The EMTs took his pulse ox and found his oxygen saturation to be in the 60% range which is VERY low. He was taken to Divine Savior hospital in Portage, WI. They were able to stabilize his breathing and did a bunch of tests that ruled out pneumonia and blood clots in his lungs. However, his blood oxygen levels dropped back down to the 70-80% range. They tried breathing treatments that did not work, and then put him on a BiPAP machine. They decided to transfer him by med-flight to UW Hospital in Madison so that he could get a higher level of one-on-one care that could not be provided at Divine Savior. Shortly after arriving at UW, they had to switch him from the BiPAP machine to a ventilator. They sedated him as well so he is unconscious. They hope that being on the ventilator and sedation will allow him to rest and heal. They cannot predict how long he will be on the ventilator and sedated, it could be days or weeks.
We appreciate your prayers, support, and words of hope and encouragement. Please continue to pray with us that God will grant Dad a full recovery.
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