Jason’s Story

Site created on May 31, 2020

Hi all! My name is Ciera and I am one of Jason and Lydia's oldest daughters. Jason's Family has decided to create a CaringBridge website in hopes to notify people on his recovery journey. If I am honest, my mom was very hesitant with this idea. As this has gone on, we have all strongly encouraged her to go this route for her sake, as well as Jason's when he comes home. Jason will love to read all encouraging messages when he is able to. For those who know my mom, it has been very hard on her to not be able to respond to all of the incredible support we have been receiving. Our family commits to updating daily! Please feel free to share Jason's link to update any and everyone.
For those who do not know, on Monday, Memorial day, Jason had a heart attack. This date, happens to be exactly 30 years to the day that the Terwey family buried Jason's mother from a heart attack. As Jason phrased, the universe works in mysterious ways.
Fortunately, Jason recognized what was happening and had his wife Lydia drive him to the Emergency Room in Stillwater. It was concluded after testing, Jason would need to be transferred to St. Paul Regions hospital for further testing. What originally was discussed as possible stent placement, it was concluded from an Angiogram Jason would need open heart surgery and a triple, possibly quadruple bypass surgery. This was not easy news to hear in fact it was beyond upsetting for reasons any of you reading this would surely understand. We have all been sick emotionally since hearing the news.
The positive silver lining in this is that Jason's heart muscle alone is very healthy and shows minimal damage from the heart attack and is pumping at a high rate which is great news. It is the full blockage of the arteries that is the problem. His surgeon Dr. Doug Baldwin is hopeful that surgery will be a long term fix and as he stated "just a bad memory in a few months".
Jason went through a successful quadruple bypass surgery on the afternoon of May 28th, 2020 as we all sat and anxiously waited for updates. Due to COVID-19, there were no visitors allowed at ANY point during this process. This has been incredibly difficult for not only Jason, but his wife Lydia, children of all different ages, grandchildren, and other family and friends. He has since been in the Cardiac ICU for continued monitoring and concern for possibly fluid pooling around the lungs. He no longer needs the ventilator and is able to breathe on this own! Since surgery, there have been a few bumps in the road. Jason, understandably, is in a significant amount of pain which can slow down the recovery process. His blood pressure has been on the lower end of normal which is currently being treated with medications and was expected as part of his recovery. He also has fluid build up around his lungs as a side effect to the blood pressure medications. Due to his pain, he has not had the ability to speak over the phone quite yet, so any information we receive is relayed from the nurses. Again, this is very difficult for everyone as we have not been able to see him since Lydia dropped him off at the doors of the emergency room where she was prohibited from entering.
So this is where we are. The waiting game is a stressful one, but Jason's family is beyond blessed to have SO much support from family, friends, and many loved ones. We figured since there are many who have been texting, calling, Facebook messaging for updates, we would create this site as a one stop shop for all as quite frankly, its a little difficult to keep up and we want to make sure everyone is included and informed. Because this recovery is a slow process, updates may seem minor. But every baby step is a milestone!
Jason and his family are so incredibly grateful and blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives. The support through all of this has been our foundation through this process and has not gone unnoticed. Please continue to keep Jason and his family in your thoughts and prayers. We will update as we are informed!
With love,
Jason, Lydia, Queen Family, Ciera, Mitchell, Cashton, Addison, Elijah, Ashley, Caleb, and Arianna

Newest Update

June 20, 2020 - This is Jason Here!

Journal entry by Ciera Bayerl —

Hello friends and family. This is Jason. It is actually me, Jason. I sent something similar out on Facebook yesterday, but because I've gotten so many awesome well wishes on this CaringBridge site, and some of you aren't on facebook, I really wanted to send my own post to let everyone know I am healing slowly but making progress and starting to feel human again after my quadruple bypass open heart surgery. I feel very very fortunate to have been given a second chance at life. Things certainly could have ended in a much different way. I want everyone to know I have read all these Caringbridge posts and all your comments. Thank you from the bottom of my new heart for the thoughts, prayers and support as they really were needed. Also, thanks to everyone for supporting Lydia and our kids during this time as this has been really difficult for her and all of our kids. You all know who you are! I am not going to name names as I don't want to screw up and forget someone! Thank you also to the older kids for all the love, calls, texts and everything, and especially to Ciera for setting up this Caringbridge site. It has been so awesome to see all the love and support and prayers.

Here is the plan moving forward. I start cardiac rehabilitation next Thursday in Stillwater. I am currently walking twice a day for about 15 minutes and am feeling stronger every day. The rest of my time is spent sitting around doing a lot of nothing, except being so thankful for my second chance. So if people feel like reaching out, it would be great to hear from you and I am finally up for talking or texting at this time. My cell phone number is 612-387-4804.

Lastly I need to thank my beautiful wife for her care, concern, love and willingness to keep my meds straight and meals healthy & tasty. Thank you honey! I have definitely felt the love from you all. Hope to slowly begin to see and hear from people moving forward. I really would like to hear from you all so call or text anytime. I might not answer immediately, but will call you back.

Lydia and I have talked and decided we will keep this site up for another week or so, just to get me on the other side of a month and seeing my surgeon, but anticipate I am out of the woods and on a strong path to recovery, albeit slow. Once I get the ok from the doctors, I'd love to see some of you for a visit on the deck or porch. Lydia says she'll make the lemonade (that's what I drink now) and snacks or lunch. (She could use some of you to visit and take me off her hands for a brief period of time.)

Thanks again and all my best to you, and again, thank you for everything.
Jason
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