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John’s Story

Site created on May 20, 2019

On April 29th, my dad, John Teubert, was admitted to the Glencoe Hospital with pneumonia. He was discharged to home on May 3rd. He wasn't bouncing back, in fact, his condition continued to decline. He became very weak, had no energy or appetite, with episodes of fevers, nausea and vomiting. He was re-admitted to the Glencoe Hospital last Wednesday evening, May 15th. His chest xray showed pneumonia with left sided pleural effusion (fluid in the space between the lung and inside of the chest wall). On May 16th they attempted a thoracentesis (procedure to remove fluid from the pleural space) but the fluid was too thick to remove and they suspected it was a pus filled abscess. He was "stable" and receiving strong IV antibiotics, so we opted to keep him at Glencoe over the weekend. He continued to have bouts of nausea and wasn't getting better so specialized care was recommended. He was transferred to Abbott yesterday afternoon where he was diagnosed with a loculated pleural effusion, which means an abscess with many pockets. He is under the care of a Cardio Thoracic surgeon. Last evening he had a CT guided chest tube placed and the fluid is being cultured. Today, the surgeon is going to inject a clot busting medication to try to help thin out the fluid to promote drainage from the pockets. Depending on how well the medications work and the culture results, he may need to have surgical procedure. The VATS surgical procedure would be done to scrape & clean the chest wall and lung space and then place several chest tubes to further assist in the drainage. VATS stands for Video Assisted Thoracoscopy Surgery. The surgery would likely be on Thursday, but we will know more later today or early tomorrow. They anticipate that he will be hospitalized for about 7 days. He slept well last night and had very minimal pain. He continues to have bouts of nausea otherwise has remained stable. We appreciate everyone's concern. I will try to keep this site updated. Honestly, it feels like our family can't quite catch a break and have been challenged by one big thing after another but we also know that many people are praying for us and we appreciate the love and support shown to us. My mom & I stayed in a nearby hotel last night. We are taking one day at a time.

Tammy

Newest Update

Journal entry by Tammy Diehn — Jun 16, 2019

Quick update on my dad. He was discharged to home last Saturday, June 8th. He goes to physical therapy a couple days a week and is slowly re-gaining his physical strength back, still a long ways to go but heading in the right direction! Reflecting back, I don't think any of us really realized at the time just how sick my dad really was. I must say that even though he had become physically weak, he remained strong in his Faith in God throughout and continued to show his deep love and concern for my mom and our family. I feel especially blessed this Father's Day and look forward to having supper with him tonight. Again, our family very thankful and appreciative for everyone's support and concern.
Much love,
Tammy

Read More of the journal titled "Happy Father's Day"

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