John’s Story

Site created on March 23, 2018

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Hi all,  John played 18 holes of golf, worked in the yard and volunteered from 6-9 pm at our church, First Baptist Peachtree City on Tuesday, March 20, 2018.  He came home about 9:30 pm and while eating, he experienced severe back pain.  The pain became increasingly worse and he experienced shortness of breath and nausea.  I transported him to Piedmont Fayette where he was diagnosed with a ruptured esophagus, requiring emergency surgery.  He was transported by ambulance to Piedmont Atlanta, admitted to Medical-Surgical ICU at 5 am Wednesday morning.  Dr. Eric Sciesu performed a thoracotomy, remove a piece of chest muscle and patched a hole in the back of John's esophagus.  He inserted three chest tubes, NG tube, a Jackson Pratt drain and subclavian line for external liquid feeding.   He was intubated, placed on a ventilator and returned to ICU to begin his recovery process.


John was discharged home on April 5th, 2:30 pm from Piedmont Atlanta.  He had a slow recovery with complications of C. Diff bacteria but made his way back to a new normal.


John had a sudden onset of shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat and chest pain on Sunday, August 19th, 2018 almost five months to the day from his ruptured esophagus.  He was readmitted through the Piedmont Fayette Hospital ER with a large pulmonary embolus in his left main pulmonary artery.   They discovered a deep vein thrombus in his right leg behind the knee.  He was discharged home on August 22nd, 2018.   

Newest Update

Update November 15 2018

Journal entry by Lisa Eichelberger —

John continues to do well.  He was able to walk our daughter Elizabeth down the beach as she married a couple of weeks ago!  He went back for his three month check up with the pulmonologist. His lung function seems to be good. MD wanted to stop the Eliquis however I debated the evidence with him and expressed concern over just a three months course.   Verdict:  He will stay on Eliquis for six months. He will have a full scan of his heart and his leg in December and we see if any clots remain or new ones have formed. 

John is doing well and we remain so thankful for his continued good health. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Lisa
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