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Jeremy’s Story

Site created on January 8, 2021

Sunday January 3rd, 2021 began like many other Sundays for us and then turned into a very
scary nightmare. At about 3:30pm Jeremy came inside the house after working hard outside in
his shed most of the day and told us he didn't feel well. He asked for some aspirin because he
was having tightness in his chest, he was very sweaty, he was pale and said he just felt weird. I
said we should go in to the ER to have you checked out and he agreed. As we were walking to the door he turned to me and said I think I am getting better so maybe we should wait. He sat down for
a few minutes before he finally said OK we should go in. We only live a few blocks from the ER
and I was pretty scared of what was happening so we hurried. Jeremy walked into the ER and started to check himself in as they were screening me for covid symptoms. Moments later we were buzzed into the ER and taken to a room. They had him put on a gown and get on the bed as they began to ask questions and start IV`s. They were also hooking him up to an EKG machine to check his heart. The doctor came in and looked up at the screen and knew immediately that he was
having heart issues, he was actually having a STEMI heart attack. He started to say that I can see you are having heart trouble so we need to start some meds and about that time Jeremy looked like he was seizing and then he coded. I am not medical so I don't know all the exact vergage so I just do my best to explain what I thought I saw. They shocked him and brought him back, and he was really upset because he was laying down which must have been uncomfortable because he tried with all his might to get up and was screaming to let him sit up. His IV`s in his arms were not working, so they had to drill into his calf in his left leg too access a vein to get him urgent meds. I was surprised he wasn't screaming about that but he was more worried about being held down by many people. Then he noticed because he began to yell, get away from that leg stop bending it backwards, when he started to code again. This is when they took me out of the room because I can say it was the
scariest thing I have ever witnessed, believing I was losing my love and best friend. As I was
taken into another little room to wait I started calling family to be with our boys and me as I
knew this was going to be a very long night. The nurse came back to let me know that they got
him back again and they are just working to get him stable and ready for immediate transport
by ambulance to Rapid City. After arriving in Rapid City he had an angioplasty to place a stent
in a main artery of his heart that was mostly blocked. Then he was admitted to the Coranary
Intensive Care Unit. So begins, a very long waiting game for his little steps of progress and improvement. The waiting and watching is so hard on all of us but he needs time to heal from this traumatic event.
Jeremy is my 46 year old husband of 18 years. We have three boys who are so worried and
scared and just want to wake up from this crazy nightmare. Jeremy is so sweet, kind, funny,
hardworking, a great husband and father. We just wait and try to figure out everything that is
happening each day. Due to the covid 19 pandemic they are only allowing 1 visitor to see him per day which means I get to see him but I have to do it alone. I know my Jeremy is strong and stubborn and not ready to leave his family who mean the world to him so we will wait and pray.

Dear loved ones, words can not describe just how grateful Jeremy and I are for the multitude of prayers, well wishes, concern and offers to help us navigate this challenging time. I will do my best to update this page with progress and information each day or as often as I can.

Angie

Newest Update

Journal entry by Angie Veldman — Mar 14, 2021

Day 70 update:

Hello everyone, it's been a while and I felt it was time to give you an update on Jeremy.
He has been home for a month now and he continues to recover great. He is still doing out patient speech therapy two times a week and cardiac rehab three times a week. Everyday he is working hard to get back to his normal self and he is rocking it! He has officially been a former smoker for 70 days and doesn't even have the urge to smoke at all. 😀 We have all started a more heart healthy diet and sometimes it is a challenge because we miss so many wonderful things we used to enjoy eating. 😊
Anyways Jeremy is doing great and we are sooooo thankful to have him home with us!
Thank you to all of you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers through all of this. 🙏🙏🙏🤗🤗🤗

Read More of the journal titled "March 14, 2021"

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